Ambassadors From Babylon
223
“What shall I say?
He hath both spoken unto me,
And Himself hath done it:
I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness
of my
soul.
“O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these things is the life of my spirit:
So wilt Thou recover me, and make me to live.
“Behold, for peace I had great bitterness:
But Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from
the
pit of corruption:
For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.
“For the grave cannot praise Thee,
Death cannot celebrate Thee:
They that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy
truth.
[344]
“The living, the living, he shall praise Thee,
As I do this day:
The father to the children shall make known Thy
truth.
“The Lord was ready to save me:
Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed
instruments
All the days of our life in the house of the Lord.”
Isaiah 38:10-20
.
In the fertile valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates there dwelt
an ancient race which, though at that time subject to Assyria, was
destined to rule the world. Among its people were wise men who
gave much attention to the study of astronomy; and when they noticed