 |
Ode 4
This Ode is important because of the historical allusion with which it commences. This may refer to the closing of the temple at Leontopolis in Egypt which would date this writing about 73 A. D.
1No man, O my God, changeth thy holy place;
2And it is not (possible) that he should change it and put it in another place: because he hath no power over it:
3For thy sanctuary thou hast designed before thou didst make (other) places:
4That which is the older shall not be altered by those that are younger than itself.
5Thou has given thy heart, O Lord, to thy believers: never wilt thou fail, nor be without fruits:
6For one hour of thy Faith is more precious than all days and years.
7For who is there that shall put on thy grace, and be hurt?
8For thy seal is known: and thy creatures know it: and thy (heavenly) hosts possess it: and the elect archangels are clad with it.
9Thou hast given us thy fellowship: it was not that thou wast in need of us: but that we are in need of thee:
10Distill thy dews upon us and open thy rich fountains that pour forth to us milk and honey:
11For there is no repentance with thee that thou shouldest repent of anything that thou hast promised:
12And the end was revealed before thee: for what thou gavest, thou gavest freely:
13So that thou mayest, not draw them back and take them again:
14For all was revealed before thee as God, and ordered from the beginning before thee: and thou, O God, hast made all things. Hallelujah.