Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XIII/Ephraim the Syrian and Aphrahat/Nisibene Hymns/Hymn VII

1.&#160; Wrath came to rebuke, the greedy who in the midst of peace, bargained, defrauded and plundered.&#160; In calamity the greedy have waxed rich:&#160; lo! what was theirs they have scattered, what was not theirs they have gathered.&#160; R., Give peace, O Son, to our land!

2.&#160; Twenty years my troubles, have been like branches, O my Saviour! which are kept back throughout winter, but when it is time to shoot forth, my troubles shoot forth:&#160; with our fruit our heart ripens.

3.&#160; Nisan is the time of buds:&#160; in it the ill tidings budded.&#160; When our delights crowded on us, then crowded on us our ills.&#160; At the time of winnowing of wheat, came the winnowing of cities,

4.&#160; For the three brethren in Babylon fled not from the fire that men kindled, because they were steadfast:&#160; from lust they fled, because they were perfect.

5.&#160; The fire of them that have triumphed, is able to turn the black kids into white:&#160; the fire of vain men is able to make the lambs into spotted leopards.

6.&#160; How great will be my cries, to be cried at any alarm!&#160; How great my indignation to ripen at every ill tidings!&#160; How great my harvests, to perish every mouth!

7.&#160; For the crimes of my sons He has chastened me, in their struggling for my deliverance.&#160; The people who deliver me, bring chastisement upon me.&#160; Restrain ye your sins, and lo! my chastisements are restrained!

8.&#160; In ill tidings they are afflicted; in time of wrath they are tortured; in time of peace they are distressed; for when every man breathes freely, and all are unthankful for grace, they render thanks on behalf of every man.

9.&#160; Their sackcloth is humble for my sake; their ashes are sprinkled in my affliction; their prayer is for my victory; their fast for my deliverance:&#160; Lo! the debt is on my ascetics, the guilt with my nobles.

10.&#160; Great is in every age, the folly of the wise; the scribes and elders envied and killed the teacher, who taught all people the Law of Moses.

11.&#160; Wisdom in this age is a possession that brings loss:&#160; he who has a little folly, very small is his guilt; but he who has a little prudence, his iniquity passes measure.

12.&#160; They build with their words, and overthrow in their deeds; for the teachers were many and foolish, but the mouth of the judge is both of these things, the judge and the accuser.