XXXV.
After this the holy son of Thare, chief of the Ebrews,
was a dweller in the Filistine nation for a long time,2835
alone amid strangers. The Lord of the Angels showed
him a dwelling-place which the men dwelling in the city
called the land of Bersaba. There the pious man built
a high hall, constructed a place of shelter and planted2840
a grove, erected an altar and on the sacrificial stone
made an offering, an oblation, at once, to his Master
who had given him a prosperous life under the sky.
Then the powerful King began to try this hero,2845
tested stringently what the noble one's fortitude was,
and spoke to him in stern words with his voice:
"Go forth now speedily, Abraham, hasten thy steps,2850
and take with thee thine own child. Thou shalt thyself
offer up Isaac to me, thy son as a sacrifice. After thou
ascendest on foot the steep dune, the bordering circle of
that high land which I shall show thee from here, there2855
thou shalt prepare a funeral pyre, the death-pile of thy
son, and then thyself sacrifice thy son with the edge
of the sword and then burn his dear body with black
flame, and thus make offering to me."
He did not decline the expedition, but straightway
began to hasten the procedure: the word of the King2860
of Angels was sacred to him, and his Master was beloved.
Then the pious Abraham forsook his nightly repose,
with no resistance at all to the command of the Saviour,
but the holy man girded himself with his grey sword2865
and declared that the fear of the Keeper of Spirits
dwelt in his breast. Worn with age, the dispenser of
gold began to harness his asses, and bade two young men
go with him: his own son was the third and he himself
the fourth. Without delay he then set out to lead Isaac2870
from his own home, the ungrown child, as the Lord
bade him; hastened exceedingly and hurried forth on
the way, as the Lord showed him the paths over the
wastes, until the glorious beginning of the third day2875
arose across deep water. There the worthy man saw
a high dune rise, as the King of Glory had foretold to
him. So Abraham spoke to his servants:
"My men! Remain ye here in this place. We shall2880
return, after we have offered to the King of Spirits what
was entrusted to us both."
The noble man then departed with his own son toward2885
the designated spot which the Lord showed him, striding
through the forest; the son bore the wood, the father
fire and sword. Then the man young in years began
to ask Abraham about the affair, in these words:
"We have here fire and sword, my lord: where is the2890
noble victim that you expect to bring as a burnt-offering
to God?"
Abraham replied (he had once for all decided that he
would do as the Lord directed him):
"That the True King, Guardian of mankind, will2895
himself provide, as it seemeth to him meet."
Then with unfaltering purpose he ascended the steep
dune, with his son, as the Eternal had bidden him, until
he stood on the crest of the high land, on the [spot][41]
which the mighty, faithful Lord had shown him in his2900
words. Forthwith he began to build the funeral-pyre
and kindle the fire, and he bound his son hand and foot,
and then laid young Isaac on the pile, and then straight-
way grasped the sword by the hilt: he was resolved to2905
kill his son with his own hands and allay the flames with
his child's blood.
At that moment a minister of God, one of the angels,
called Abraham from above, with a loud voice. Motion-
less he answered the angel and awaited the herald's2910
speech. To him then forthwith God's glorious spirit-
messenger spoke from above, out of heaven, in these
words:
"Beloved Abraham! Do not slay thine own son, but
take the boy alive from the pile, thy child. The God2915
of Glory has spared him. Prince of the Ebrews, through
the holy hand of the King of Heaven thou shalt thyself
receive recompense and true rewards of victory, ample
gifts: the Keeper of Spirits will enrich thee with blessings,2920
because his peace and favor were dearer to thee than
thine own child."
The pyre stood there blazing. The Lord of mankind
had made joyful the breast of Abraham, kinsman of
Loth, when he gave him back his son, Isaac, alive. Then2925
the holy hero looked about over his shoulder, and there
not far from him the brother of Aron beheld a ram
standing alone, caught fast in the thorn-bushes. Abra-
ham took this and laid it on the pyre with great zeal,2930
in place of his own son, brandished the sword, and dec-
orated the burnt-offering, the smoking altar, with the
blood of the ram, offered that oblation to God, [and fin-
ally] gave thanks for these blessings and for all those[42]
mercies which, late and early, the Lord had bestowed3935
upon him....[43]
NOTES
[1] Thorpe's translation of the Genesis, published with his edition, in 1828, was not accessible to the present writer and presumably will not be accessible to the general public, so that on the mere score of availability it seems high time for the appearance of another translation; moreover, in the last eighty-five years critical scholarship has produced a greatly improved text of the poem.
[2] Aside from necessary omissions made for Genesis B, the Sections are numbered consecutively in this translation (regardless of vagaries in the original MS. numbering), on the assumption that each illuminated capital in the MS. was intended to indicate the beginning of a new Section. After the excision of Genesis B, the numbering has been resumed with X instead of XV, because the XIII at line 440 in the MS. must really represent VIII.—Cf. Note 8, page 59, inf. (page 199, inf.)
[3] ll. 39b-41a. Wræcna, gen. pl. with bidan, = outcasts; I take weardas as in apposition with it (the acc. being either a scribal error or an anacoluthon), and then translate wræcna as an adjective for the sake of idiomatic fluency. For gasta weardas as an epithet for angels, though then unfallen, cf. line 12a, sup.—The passage has given scholars much trouble and is unsatisfactory, at best.
[4] line 63b. I take æðele as a form of æðelu = nobilitas, principatus, natales, origo, genus, etc. Grein's Sprachschatz, 1.52.
[5] line 168a. Three pages seem to be missing in the MS. Doubtless the remaining events of the third day, with those of the fourth, fifth, and perhaps first part of the sixth, days, including the creation of man, (i.e., apparently the contents of Gen. 1.11-2.17, incl.) were retold in these pages.
[6] line 186b. This line is apparently imperfect, metrically, for the second hemistich seems to be wanting. As the sense is complete, without emendation, I have not followed the various scholars who would insert after "Adam's bride" some such clause as, "Whom God named Eve."
[7] ll. 221-224a. The text here is corrupt and scholars differ widely in their conjectural emendations and interpretations. Since none of their versions is satisfactory or convincing, I venture upon an independent reading. Hebeleac, of course, is the Scriptural Havilah (Gen. 2.11); Fison is obviously Pison, and Geon, 230b inf., is Gihon.
[8] ll. 226, 227a. I construe the best with gold and gems, rather than with sons of men, because of Gen. 2.12.
[9] ll. 235-851. After line 234 there is a break in the MS. Sievers has shown that the following 617 lines, called Genesis B, were written and interpolated later, by a different hand, and have Old Saxon affiliations. Genesis B describes the Fall of Man and also gives a new version of the revolt and overthrow of Satan. Genesis A begins again, at line 852, with the conversation between Adam and Eve and Jehovah (Gen. 3.8 ff.).
[10] line 872. I follow the divisions of the MS. This line begins with the tenth large decorative initial, the others having occurred at ll. 1, 82, 135, 246, 389, 442, 547, 684, and 821. Where the editors so widely disagree as to the proper subdivisions of the poem, it seems safer to follow the original initializing (but not the marginal numbering of the original MS.: this skips from VII to XIII at line 440—doubtless accidentally substituting X for V—and is otherwise irregular). Cf. footnote, page vi, sup.—For lines 869-70, cf. Jour. Eng. Germ. Phil., 12.257.
[11] line 1022. A hemistich seems to be missing here, metrically.
[12] line 1125. A hemistich seems to be missing here, metrically.
[13] line 1128. I here adopt Grein's emendation, reading leod for leof.
[14] line 1137. Cf. Gen. 4.26, with cross-references, alternative translation, etc.
[15] line 1150. I follow Grein in supplying wintra to complete a metrically imperfect line.
[16] line 1199. A hemistich seems to be missing here, metrically; and surely the sense requires the interpolation of several lines, to record the birth of Methuselah in Enoch's 65th year. Cf. Gen. 5.21.
[17] line 1211. We may restore the last word of this line, fan in the MS., either as tautological frean, with Dietrich, or as tautological feran, with Grein.
[18] line 1405. I follow Dietrich in reading edniowe = self-renewing, for the meaningless edmonne in the MS.
[19] line 1492. This difficult passage may be clarified by reading ðryðe = strength, copious power, in place of the meaningless ðridda = third, in the MS., and at the same time making þrymme the object of hæfde (reading þrymmas, if necessary).
[20] line 1549. At least one line is missing, in the MS. here. I have healed the breach by altering the case of wærfæst metod, in preference to supplying conjectural material.
[21] line 1628a. The difficulty here may be obviated, with slight emendation, by letting Fæderne modify yrfestole, and changing breðer, as a genitive plural, to broðra.
[22] ll. 1852b-1853. I follow Dietrich, who seems to me to make the best of this bad business.
[23] line 1862b. Hægstealdra wyn refers to Pharaoh, of course.
[24] line 1929a. A hemistich is missing here, in the MS., and a verb must be supplied; I adopt Grein's suggestion, lædde.
[25] line 1956b. The alliteration is defective, unless a word be supplied; but the sense may be preserved, without emendation, by construing æfter with sped.
[26] line 2047a. Metrically, a hemistich seems to be missing.
[27] line 2055a. Metrically, a word or two seem to be missing.
[28] line 2148b. Metrically, a hemistich seems to be missing.
[29] line 2234b. Larum here seems to be tautological, perhaps a scribal error. It might be taken with bryde, in an absolute construction: after the example, or in the manner, of a bride. The reading lastum is supported by line 2715a.
[30] line 2275b. I take witodes here as equivalent to wyrdes: cf. Sievers' "OE. Grammar," ed. A.S. Cook, 1903, 269, N. 5.
[31] line 2379. Grein remarks that a page is missing here from the MS.
[32] line 2400b. I read here mægn for mæg;—cf. line 2494b. Or, retaining mæg, the line might be translated: "The Father of Light Himself was" etc. Cf. Gen. 18.1, 16.
[33] line 2439b. Defective metre and sense, owing to the loss of a hemistich, but the sense is complete. Grein's suggestion, feoll on foldan, adds nothing to the following hnah.
[34] line 2510. A passage is missing here in the MS. Cf. 2568b-2569a; and the XXXVII at 2574, after the XXXV at 2417.
[35] lines 2597, 2598, 2601b-2602a. There are several lacunae here, in the MS.
[36] line 2628b. Some words are evidently missing here. In the brackets I give the emendation supported by most scholars.
[37] line 2695b. I follow most of the editors in taking hyrde as family and frean as an appositive with fæder.
[38] line 2747b. Whatever the precise form of emendation to be adopted, this is certainly the sense of the word and passage.
[39] line 2805. A passage is missing here, in the MS.
[40] line 2810b. A hemistich is missing here, metrically.
[41] line 2899a. This word (stowe) is Dietrich's obviously correct emendation.
[42] line 2934a. Grein's emendation, sælða = prosperity, helps the metre but not the sense. I do not adopt it.
[43] line 2935. In the MS., Genesis ends here and Exodus follows at once; as 28 Chapters of the Biblical Genesis are passed over, it seems probable that several pages in the MS. of the poem have been lost or were not transcribed.