XXVIII. The Treasuries of Heaven

Selected Religious Poems of Solomon ibn Gabirol, tr. by Israel Zangwill, [1923], at sacred-texts.com

XXVIII.

O Lord, who can unroll Thy mysteries?
For Thou hast made in the Height chambers and store-houses,
Some of them awesome to tell of, a tale of mighty doings,
And some treasuries of life for the pure and the clean.
For some are treasures of salvation to those who have returned from iniquity, p. 104
And some are treasures of fire,
And rivers of brimstone
For the breakers of the covenant.
And there is a provision of deep pits whose fire is never quenched.
"He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein."
And there are caverns of storm-winds and tempests
And congelation and cold,
And treasures of hail and ice and snow and drought,
Also of heat and flowing channels
And of thick smoke and hoar-frost and of clouds and thick cloud,
And darkness and gloom.
The whole hast Thou prepared in its due season,
"Thou hast ordained it for mercy or judgment,
And established it, O Rock, for correction!"