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Ephrem the Syrian: Selected Hymns
J. B. Morris, J. T. Sarsfield Stopford and A. Edward Johnston; NPNF2-13 (1898) · Edition commentary
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Collection: The Pearl: Hymns on Faith — Translator and historical edition notes
Hymn II.
Hymn III.
Hymn IV.
Hymn V.
Hymn VI.
Hymn VII.
Hymn IX.
An attempt is here made to represent by means of dashes the metrical versification of the Syriac hymns. See above, pp. 147 sq.
1 Esdr.
Hymn X.
Hymn XI.
Hymn XII.
Hymn XIII.
The verb is n’sab,—a play on the name of the city.
Hymn XIV.
Hymn XV.
Hymn XVI.
Hymn XVII.
Hymn XVIII.
Hymn XIX.
Hymn XX.
Hymn XXI.
[XXII.–XXV. (wanting); XXVI. (only a fragment remains); XXVII.–XXXIV. (relate to Edessa and Carrhæ).]
Hymn XXXV.
Hymn XXXVI.
Hymn XXXVII.
Hymn XXXVIII.
Hymn XXXIX.
Hymn XL.
Hymn XLI.
Hymn XLII.
Hymn LII.
Hymn LIII.
Hymn LIV.
Hymn LV.
Hymn LVI.
Hymn LVII.
Hymn LVIII.
Hymn LIX.
Judg. vii. 18–22.
Hymn LX.
Hymn LXI.
Hymn LXII.
Hymn LXIII.
Hymn LXIV.
I.e. though boldness is matter of free will, it becomes a second nature.
Hymn LXV.
Hymn LXVI.
Hymn LXVII.
Hymn LXVIII.
Is. x. 19.
Ps. lxxxvii. 6.
Mic. v. 2.
Num. xxiv. 17.
Hos. i. 11.
Prov. iii. 18.
Isa. ix. 6.
Ps. xxii. 6.
Is. liii. 2.
Notice here, how St. Ephraim (in common with others) speaks of the celebration of the day as if it was the day itself, partly in exhibiting his intense realization through faith of the mystery and the re-presentation of it, to use the word in its ancient sense partly as evincing, perhaps, a belief in the unabidingness of our conceptions of time—a belief resulting, it may be, from the mystical union with God in Christ which the saints enjoy. For to God time is as nothing, and those who through grace are one with Him, begin to view things as He views them.
Gen. ix. 23.
Lev. xiv. 52.
Exod. vii. 12.
St. E. refers here to St. John x. 34, where the Word Himself teaches us that it was by His coming to them that Saints of old were called Gods.
Heb. iv. 8.
1 Thess. iv. 17.
This in round numbers is the received account of the number of languages at the dispersion.
Rom. viii. 26.
1 Pet. i. 11.
Gen. v. 29.
John viii. 56.
Heb. xi. 19.
Dan. iv. 13.
I. e., the Angels; as usually in St. E.’s writings.
Ps. xlv. 5.
Cant. i. 15.
St. E. here alludes to the early days of David; he brought cheeses to his brethren; these were made by separating the curd from the whey with rennet, a small quantity of which will curdle much milk, as a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
1 Sam. xxvi.
2 Kings ii. 20.
Matt. v. 13.
Hymn II.
There is perhaps an allusion here to the pool of Siloam, which comes from the root employed in the original.
This name is given by St. E. to the Father, to suggest to the mind that there was a period when the Father had not begun to work by His Word.
St. E. seems to mean, that whereas the alterations man undergoes in his body tend ultimately to decay the same when undergone by our Lord tended to life.
Ps. xcvii. 2.
Zech. iii. 3.
Mark ix. 49.
Ps. lxix. 4. Comp. Luke xvi. 6.
Luke ii. 46.
John x. 9, xiv. 6.
Alluding to the wave-offering, Levit. xxiii. 11, which was ordinarily interpreted of Christ.
Ps. lxi. 3.
Prov. xviii. 10.
Mat. xxv. 40.
Allusion is here made perhaps to Eccles. x. 2, “a wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart is at his left.”
Luke viii. 33.
Hymn III.
Isa. v. 2.
(Conum.)
(Nisan.)
Lev. xxiii. 10.
Ezek. xlvii. 10, etc.
Luke xxiii. 43.
St. E. seems to blend here the account of the withering of the fig-tree and that of Zacchæus climbing into the wild fig-tree, as the Peshitto renders it.
John iv. 42.
Mat. xiii. 47.
Mat. xviii. 10.
Luke xv. 7.
Flowers used at Easter in the Churches are here alluded to.
John xx. 17.
This was a common name of old for St. John Baptist, with allusion to St. John i. 23.
Luke xiii. 32.
It may be well to observe once for all, that true is often use, as in John xv. 1, for “real,” in opposition to “typical,” as in Scripture, so in the Fathers.
The same Syriac verb means to pass, and to transgress.
It might seem from this that there were some days kept in their honour in the East.
Gen. xli. 49.
John vi. 1, etc.
p. 227.
Mat. xv. 36.
Mat. xiv. 17.
Ps. xvi. 5.
Prov. ix. 5.
John xii. 24.
Mat. xiii. 30.
1 Cor. x. 20.
Prov. xx. 1.
Gen. ix. 23.
Gen. iii. 15.
1 Sam. v. 4.
Mat. xxv. 33.
Judg. xiv. 6.
Mat. v. 28.
Ps. cxxxix. 16.
Mat. xxvii. 52.
p. 11. n. d.
Jer. xxxi. 22.
Exod. xxxiii. 22.
Hymn IV.
Is. i. 10. Rev. xi. 8.
Mat. xi. 12.
I. e., the gates of the heart, before the gates of the Church.
Col. ii. 14.
The increase of light at the time of the Nativity is meant.
Exod. xii. 3.
Of Nisan. So St. E. writes on Exod. xii. 3.
“The Lamb is a type of our Lord, who on the tenth of Nisan entered into the womb; for from the tenth day of the seventh month when Zachary received the message of John’s birth, even to the tenth day of the first month when Mary received the message from the Angel, are six months.”
John xi. 25.
Isai. vi.
Hymn V.
Ps. l. 9; Is. lxvi. 3.
Exod. iv. 4, etc.
Hymn VI.
S. husks.
So too St. E. himself upon Exodus xxxvii.
“And Bezaleel made an ark of undecaying wood, a type of the Body of Immanuel, which is incorruptible, and not soiled by sin. By the gold within and without he indicates the Divine Nature of the Word, which was united unto all the functions (S. vessels) of the Soul and the Body in a manner no discourse can reach, seeing he anointed our manhood with His Godhead.”
These words appear to make it plain, that St. E. means the same ark above as in this passage; he, however, uses a different word, and one which others contend is only applied to Noah’s ark.
St. Mark vi. 3, intimates that our Lord was a carpenter Himself, while on earth.
He alludes to Palm Sunday, on which the children carried them.
Gen. xxii. 6.
Gen. xxx. 1.
1 Sam. i. 7.
Hymn VII.
Gen. xxxviii.
Gen. xxxviii. 29.
The introduction of Ruth after Tamara was doubtless suggested by Ruth iv. 12, Mat. i. 3, etc. St. E. seems to mean,
“Ruth saw by faith Christ the High Priest, in whose loins was to be that Fire of Righteousness which alone could make the incense (i.e. the child which rose up from Ruth, who is called a coal) to be acceptable.”
Hymn VIII.
Ps. lxxxviii. 5.
2 Kings ii. 16.
Ps. xlv. 14.
1 Sam. ii. 26.
Luke ii. 52.
Is. liii. 8.
Gen. xvi. 12, and xxi. 9.
Hymn IX.
Scripture does not mention this.
2 Sam. vi. 23.
I.e. the Jewish Church.
Hymn X.
Rev. iii. 14.
Ps. lxxxi. 10.
Heb. vi. 7.
The Virgin Mother here speaks.
Ps. lxxii. 15.
Job vi. 6.
Hymn XI.
The Roman Editor points out that this alludes to a rite in the Syrian Liturgy, in which the officiating Priest is instructed to dip one portion of the consecrated bread into the cup and sprinkle the rest with it.
Mat. xii. 50.
Cant. iv. 14.
Cant. ii. 1.
Hymn XII.
Ex. i. 16.
Mat. xii. 15.
This passage is to be observed as one of the many in which the Fathers encourage masters to set slaves free, although they pretty uniformly held (as St. E. here seems to do also) that slaves, if they had the choice, should use slavery rather.
Cant. ii. 3.
Deut. xxxii. 39.
Hymn XIII.
I.e., August.
I.e., Dayspring.
Ps. xcix. 1.
Is. vi. 2; Mat. xxvi. 53; 1 Tim. iii. 16.
Cephas—Petros—stone.
Is. xl. 12.
Mark v. 9; Luke viii. 30.
John xii. 24.
John xviii. 9.
Mark ix. 49.
Exod. xv. 25.
Gen. xvi. 12.
Acts ii. 11.
2 Cor. viii. 9.
Heb. xi. 19.
Is. liii.
Is. xlix. 24.
Rev. v. 9.
Mal. iv. 6.
Hymn XIV.
See p. 177 n.
Hymn XV.
Hymn XVI.
The word used for “bosom” in this stanza, also means “wing.”
Hymn XVII.
Hymn XVIII.
Bethlehem=House of Bread.
Hymn XIX.
Sc., in the Presentation, St. Luke ii. 22.
See p. 177.
Hymn II.
Equivalent to Augustus.
i.e., Dayspring.
Hymn III.
Hymn IV.
Hymn V.
Hymn VI.
Hymn VII.
Rev. xxi. 6, xxii. 17.
So in Peshitto, 1 Kin. i. 38; but Gihon in the Hebrew.
Hymn VIII.
1 Maccab. i. 19.
’Arbo=ram; ’Arboyo=Arab.
Isai. xxx. 27.
Hymn IX.
Hymn X.
The rendering of this line is very conjectural.
Hymn XI.
Ezek. xlvii. 1, sq.
Hymn XII.
Hymn XIII.
Hymn XIV.
Hymn XV.
Hos. iv. 3; Zeph. i. 3.
Eccles. viii. 11.
James iii. 10.
Hymn II.
Pearls, he means, have their beauty by nature and so are like Christ; other stones must be graven and so are like created natures.
Job xli. 4; Ps. lxxi. 14.
See Note on Hymn V. 4 (below).
Cephas; i.e., Rock.
Hymn III.
I.e. with the mysteries typified in the pearl, women are clothed with light at Baptism.
Job xxviii. 19 (Pesh.).
Acts viii. 27.
Jer. xiii. 23; Is. i. 18.
Ps. lxviii. 31.
1 Kings x. 1.
Why St. E. contemplates the queen as a sheep appears from his remarks on the place. The following are a part of them
“It was not the fame of Solomon only, but also the Name of the Lord, which called to this queen, who sought to know the God of Solomon, who set out upon a dangerous long journey, and brought presents fit for a king.…Our Lord also extolled this queen in the Gospel, and praised her zealousness, when He rebuked the sluggishness of the Jews.”
This was a tradition of the Jews, a tradition based in part on Canticles i. 5.
Hymn IV.
Luke xxii. 42.
Zech. ii. 8.
Matt. xxi. 42.
Jer. viii. 7.
Is. i. 3.
Hymn V.
Is. lv. 1.
The same word in Syriac means naked and Apostle.
John xxi. 7.
Hymn VI.
Hos. i. 2.
Matt. ix. 13.
Luke xviii. 9.
Cant. ii. 17.
Or, pierced—perhaps a word of intentionally uncertain meaning, so as to suit with “the way” in either sense of it.
1 Tim. ii. 5.
Hymn VII.
On Josh. ii. 9, For I know that God hath delivered unto you the land, etc., St. E. makes Rahab say, “This forty years is this land yours; and now it is that we might repent, that we have continued in it up to this day.”
Gen. xv. 6.
The calf might be at once intended for a symbol of God, and also a copy from the worship of Apis.
Elsewhere (Opp. Syr. II. 384) St. E. calls the Teraphim of Micah (Judges xviii. 2, 14) “the idol with four faces.”
Reeds are used all over the East to write with.
St. E. assumes that the type of Joseph was fulfilled in Christ to the letter.
This alludes probably to Bardesanes, the existence of whose rhythmical compositions induced St. E. to try and counteract them by orthodox ones of the same kind.
Luke xxiii. 14, 15.
I.e. Omnipresent in space, but not limited by space.