Rendition of Psalm 2
Why do the lost nations rage And rally devices against the living God? The kings of the earth take their stand Against the Lord and his messiah, saying, “Let us break our shackles, And throw off every binding. He is a consuming fire. He will turn the hard blade Of his hand against us any day. So we became stoneburners. We split love seven ways, Were cast in gold, were heaven itself. We plotted and raged. We spoke in tongues. We saw secret things. It cost us our lives, but God, we were beautiful. We made a deal, and now This show don’t stop for no one. How were we supposed to love That thunderous light? The auguries were all indifferent, And time tumbles pips up. If you go back enough It is all just dice.” The Lord of all the earth Laughed in his wild water heart. He warned them in his anger, saying, “For all your bluster, you still failed At every chance to change you got. Anymore, you barely need a reason To give yourself to things You can’t come back from. You could never pick up the hot coals Inside yourself and kiss them. Even still, you could have been saved If you had learned to take inside yourself The reprisals of your friends When they braved your dagger-bladed smile. So now you have headaches And suffer through all you wanted. So now you are wires and exposed bone And fever and heartstring. So now the day wrings mute confessions out of you And you stay in bed so no one will hear them. Yet, for all the nations’ frenzy, I have established my king On Zion, my holy mountain.” Then, the Lord said to me, “Today, you are my son And I am your father forever. The throne of God is God’s alone But it was always shared. I made the earth to be inherited. Ask me, and it is yours, But you must also take these enemies of mine. Break them like pottery; Bind them like your own broken body." Be wise, be warned, You who gather greatness in heaps. Serve God with holy fear, And rejoice with trembling. Don’t ask for answers; ask for waiting. You barely know the meaning of things. What you get is quiet. What you get is your life. God’s wrath burns at a touch. The shelter of his kindness Is the only shelter left.
Psalms: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 46, 50, 51, 53, 54, 62, 63, 65, 66, 73, 74, 75, 84, 86, 88, 90, 91, 100, 107, 110, 114, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 147, 148.
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Loved “his wild water heart.” Such music and truth in just a few small words.
The shelter of his kindness is the only shelter left. Lovely!