Prayers and Meditations
of the earth to band themselves against us, and to cast us into a fire such as no man hath kindled, they would be powerless to distract our gaze from the horizon of Thy name, the Most Exalted, the Most High, and would fail to turn aside our hearts from the seat of Thine effulgent glory.
I swear by Thy might! The arrows that transfix us in Thy path are the ornaments of our temples, and the spears which pierce us in our love for Thee are as silk unto our bodies. By the glory of Thy might! Nothing whatsoever can beseem Thy servants except what the pen of Thine irrevocable decree hath traced in this priceless and exalted
Tablet.
All praise be to Thy Self at all times and under all conditions. Thou art, verily, the God of knowledge and wisdom.
CXXXI
Praise be unto Thee, O my God! Thou seest how He Who is Thy Light hath been shut up in the fortress-town of
‘Akká, and been sore oppressed by reason of what the hands of the wicked doers have wrought, whose corrupt desires have kept them back from turning towards Thee, O Thou Who art the King of all names!
I swear by Thy glory! Tribulations, however woeful,
218