Weep, weep for those
Who do the work of the Lord
With a high look
And a proud heart.

Their voice is lifted up
In the streets, and their cry is heard.
The bruised reed, they break
By their great strength, and the smoking flux,
They trample.

Weep not for the quenched
(For God will hear their cry
And the Lord will come to them)
But weep, weep for the quenchers.

Fro when the Day of the Lord
Is come, and the vales sing
And the hills clap their hands
And the light shines
Then their eyes shall be opened
On a waste place,
Smouldering,
The smoke of the flax bitter
In their nostrils,
Their feet peirced
By broken reed-stems…
Wood, hay, and stubble,
And no grass springing
And all the birds flown.

Weep, weep for those
Who have made desert
In the name of the Lord.

– We had trouble deciding whether this is a prayer.

– But as a “lament” (as in the Psalms) it could be spoken before God and the people!

– By Evangeline Paterson
– From “Deep Is The Rock” (C) 1966 Christianity Today
– Found in the book “The Mark Of The Christian” by Francis Schaeffer (Intervarsity 1970).