Ephraim: The Nisibene Hymns
Nisibene Hymn 63: Death Honors the Bones of the Just
Who can weigh the reward of Abraham,
whom I marveled at when he bound his only son?
Refrain: Glory to you, Voice that gives life to the dead in Sheol!
They have come up as preachers of his Son, who gives life to all.
At that time I came out in haste to see the marvel,
how his knife was drawn against his beloved.
I gathered my many memories from every quarter,
and I collected my spirit to marvel at that illustrious man.
How, then, can you read that great story?
You have despised the reading of it, right in your own ears.
The sword of Jephthah rebukes the one who laments;
his daughter was to him a mirror of life from the dead.
She gave herself for her father; so you too, commend
your life to the Father of all, in the hope of your end.
Did you not, then, make trial in the womb of a mystery of Sheol?
Yet in Sheol you had more rest than in the womb.
It is stubbornness in you to stand up against my mighty will,
for see, it is to help them that I take away your departed.
By the king of Moab, who killed his son with his own hands,
the one who laments for the departed is put to shame.
He was an ungodly man, look, according to what you read;
but you are learned teachers and instructors, as you suppose.
He endured it, but you are furious in your mourning,
against the will of the Lord of all, while you are weeping.
But I am afraid to let the story of Job pass
through this feeble mouth of mine, for I am unworthy.
In the same way I turn aside from mentioning their bones,
though I praise him who granted that they should come to me.
Do not dishonor your members by your sins,
for in Sheol the bones of evildoers are despised.
Whenever I see the body of one of the wicked,
I trample on it and curse even his memory.
But wherever I see a bone of one of the just,
I set it apart and honor it and pay it worship.
You feeble ones do not understand all my ordinances;
with you the orders are confused, for you are blind.
Moses alone, I know, honored as I do
the bones of that Joseph whom I magnify.
But Moses did such honor to one pure body,
while I do it to the body and the bones of all the righteous.
The bones of prophets and of apostles shine brightly;
all the righteous are a lamp to me in the darkness.
I worship him who lights up the darkness of Sheol for me;
the splendor of Moses, who was so great, was like the sun to me.