Venice masks

Sunday 5 May 2019

In Praise of God (from Avoda) - Yose ben Yose

I shall proclaim the mighty deeds of God,
     who is glorious in power.
He alone is God
     and there is no other;
there is none besides Him,
     none second to him;
there will be none after Him on earth,
     there was none before Him in heaven;
there was none but He of old,
     nor shall there be in the end.
Lordly in thought, godly in action —
when He takes counsel, no one is absent;
when He orders, no one delays.
He speaks and does,
     designs and fulfills,
bearing the world with strength,
     carrying it with might.
He is celebrated in song by his creatures;
from above and below He is given praise.
The only God on earth,
     the Holy One in heaven,
     the Mighty One on high  —
He receives songs from the waters,
     paeans from the deeps
     adoration from the luminaries,
     speech from the days,
     melody from the nights.
Fire shouts out His name,
     the trees of the forest sing for joy,
     the animals teach the might of his terrible acts.

Yose ben Yose (5th century) Palestine
Translated by T. Carmi
Source: Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please keep your comments relevant and free from abusive language. Thank you. Note that comments are moderated so it may be a day or two before your comment is posted - irrelevant or abusive comments will not be published.