Collected Works (Vol. I)

76 JEPHTHAH JEPHTHAH., A maiden shall be slain for many men. Surely, O people, and men of Israel, The prophecy is happy to the end. For see yon moon that creeps inviolate Against the corner of the mountains so, Slowly and gracefully to lighten us. So, ere three nights be gone, the course of heaven Shall be most monstrously o’erwhelmed for us Ere sundown, as for Joshua, and the moon, ‘The maiden moon, be slain that we may see By the large moveless sun to strike and slay, More utterly proud Ammon to consume. This is the omen. Shout for joy, my friends ! But who comes whirling in yon dusty cloud, [lis eayer charger dimly urging him Toward our conclave? ’Tis our messenger. he-enter Herald. Sir, you ride well. I pray your news be cood. IHIERALD. So spake the haughty and rebellious Ammon Defying your most gentle words with scorn : Tell Jephthah: Israel took away my land When they came out of Egypt from the river Of Ammon unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan. Wherefore, I pray thee, sheathe thy sword, restore Peaceably these my lands, and go in peace, Lest wrath, being kindled, consume thee utterly. JEPHTHAH. Let yet another herald stand before me [Axter Second Herald. Fresh, and vo thou, swiftest of messengers, And sleep and eat a little, and to-morrow Thou shalt have guerdon of thy faithfulness. [Axtt Herald. But now, sir, go to this rebellious king And say to him: Thus Jephthah, judge of Israel, With gentle words answers thy greediness : Israel took not thy land, nor that of Moab: But, coming out of Egypt, through the sea And over wilderness, to Kadesh came. Our people sent a message unto Edom Unto the king thereof, and prayed his grace, To let them pass through his dominions And unto Moab: and they answered Nay. So Israel abode in Kadesh : then Passing through all the desert round about Edom and Moab, pitched their weary tent Beyond the bank of Ammon ; and they sent Messengers thence to Sihon, Heshbon’s king, The lord of Amorites, and said to him: [ prithee, let us pass to our own place Through thy dominions: but his crafty mind, Fearing some treachery, that was not. save In his ill mind that thought it, did determine To gather all his people, and to pitch Tents hostile in the plains before Jahaz. And there he fought with Israel; but God Delivered Sihon to our hands, and all That followed him: whom therefore we destroyed With many slaughters : so we dispossessed The envious Amorites, and had their land, A land whose borders were the Ammon brook On the one hand, and on the other Jabbok And Jordan : we, who slew the Amorites. What hast thou, king of Ammon, here to do? How thinkst thou to inherit their posses- sions That the Lord God hath given us? Goto! Chemosh your god hath given you your land ; Possess that peaceably ; but whomsoever The Lord our God shall drive before our spears, His lands we will possess. king, Art thou now better than that bloody Balak Whose iron hand was upon Moab? He, And thou, O