In the beginning
he would rise early in the morning
now the earth was chaos and waste
from roaming the earth and walking on it
darkness was on the surface of the deep
but now, stretch out Your hand
Then G-d said, Let there be light
only do not extend your hand against him
Then G-d made the two great lights
so the adversary departed from the presence of the L-RD.
—– —– —– —– —– —–
over the day and over the night
a messenger came to Job
to separate the light from the darkness
the fire of G-d has fallen from heaven
and G-d saw that it was good
I alone escaped to tell you
So there was evening and there was morning
while this one was still speaking.
—– —– —– —– —–
above the land across the expanse
suddenly a mighty wind came
over the whole earth
and struck the four corners
the flying creatures of the sky,
fell to the ground and worshipped
And it happened so.
I will return there
G-d saw everything
blessed is the name of the L-RD.
note to reader: This poem alternates between phrases from the Book of Genesis, chapter 1 (in italics); and the Book of Job, chapter 1 (plain text). Hopefully, the poem appears as a seamless whole, despite some of the juxtapositions, that might seem awkward.
a marvellous read and blend of these two biblical books – Job is one of my favourites and these lines sum it up so well
“over the day and over the night
a messenger came to Job
to separate the light from the darkness”
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An epic patchworking of biblical books with which I am familiar but have not read for a long time. I love the development of the creation in the opening lines.
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I like what you did here, Tzvi. It’s a seamless whole.
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I love the idea of pulling from two books of the Bible, I may have to try this another time. It’s gorgeous! 😍
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I think they work so well together…
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The resulting piece here is quite fascinating.
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