| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | The Ruler of the Nations | | By John Keble |
| | | | “I have set thee this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms.”—Jer. i. 10. |
|
|
THE LORD hath set me o’er the kings of earth, | |
| To fasten and uproot, to build and mar; | |
| Not by mine own fond will: else never war | |
| Had still’d in Anathoth the voice of mirth, | |
| Nor from my native tribe swept bower and hearth; | 5 |
| Ne’er had the light of Judah’s royal star | |
| Fail’d in mid heaven, nor trampling steed and car | |
| Ceas’d from the courts that saw Josiah’s birth. | |
| “’Tis not in me to give or take away, | |
| But He who guides the thunder-peals on high, | 10 |
| He tunes my voice, the tones of His deep sway | |
| Faintly to echo in the nether sky. | |
| Therefore I bid earth’s glories set or shine, | |
| >And it is so; my words are sacraments divine.” | | | |
|
|
|
