Translation by James Rendel Harris (1852 - 1941)
As the wings of doves over their...
Language: English  after the Aramaic (ܪܡܝܐ)
This Ode is a musical gem. 1 As the wings of doves over their nestlings; [and the mouth of their nestlings towards their mouths.]1 2 So also are the wings of the Spirit over my heart: 3 [My heart is delighted and exults: like the babe who exults in the womb of his mother: 4 I believed; therefore I was at rest; for faithful is He in whom I have believed:]1 5 He has richly blessed me and my head is with Him: and the sword shall not divide me from Him, nor the scimitar; [6 For I am ready before destruction comes; and I have been set on His immortal pinions: 7 And He showed me His sign: forth and given me to drink, and from that life is the spirit within me, and it cannot die, for it lives. 8 They who saw me marvelled at me, because I was persecuted, and they supposed that I was swallowed up: for I seemed to them as one of the lost; 9 And my oppression became my salvation; and I was their reprobation because there was no zeal in me; 10 Because I did good to every man I was hated, 11 And they came round me like mad dogs, who ignorantly attack their masters, 12 For their thought is corrupt and their understanding perverted. 13 But I was carrying water in my right hand, and their bitterness I endured by my sweetness; 14 And I did not perish, for I was not their brother nor was my birth like theirs. 15 And they sought for my death and did not find it: for I was older than the memorial of them; 16 And vainly did they make attack upon me and those who, without reward, came after me: 17 They sought to destroy the memorial of him who was before them. 18 For the thought of the Most High cannot be anticipated; and His heart is superior to all wisdom. Hallelujah.]1
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View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Hovhaness.
Authorship:
- by James Rendel Harris (1852 - 1941), "Ode 28", appears in The Forgotten Books of Eden, in The Odes of Solomon, first published 1926 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Aramaic (ܪܡܝܐ) by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from the Greek, 1st century A.D.? [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000), "As the wings of doves", op. 5 no. 3 (1935) [medium voice and piano], from 3 Odes of Solomon, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Jean Nandi
This text was added to the website: 2009-10-29
Line count: 23
Word count: 333