Nisibis 2

On the Deliverance of the City The voice of the son of the one who is good resounded in the city. On this day, mouths were opened for thanksgiving, the openings of the gates were opened for the mouths of the sons of the city. They confessed the grace that saved their life, and they did not look at that time at the debts that they had incurred, which were stirred up to be forgiven. Taste her in your deliverance of the worlds, by your grace. A supplication: from every mouth that has praise for your grace. You saved without a wall, and you taught that you are the wall. You saved without a king, and you made known that you are the king. You saved in everything from everything, and you showed that you are everything. You saved by his grace, and again you revealed that a magus sins and brings forth from everything that boasts. Take the boasting and give it to his grace. The thunder of all mouths is small for your thanksgiving, for at the hour when your light flickers, behold, your knowledge is easy for you in everything from silence. Work in her and shine. Show two wonders: that with him who cut off hope, hope was established and hope increased. The hour of lamentations turned into good news. It is the day of the festival, on which are the suspended festivals. If wrath had ceased, then the festivals would also be nullified. That which cried out "victory" has silenced; behold, the thundering festivals. This blessed day tastes everything. On it, he hung a crown on a crown, he hung a people on a people, he hung a silence on a silence, he hung a whole on a whole. From those of the gates, I increased the victories. Praise to the Trinity ascends from three gates, which descended and enclosed the eyes in mercies that quelled wrath.

He taught the poor to strike the cymbal; he taught the inner ones who were in distress, the gate was shut; he taught the outer ones that it was good, the bolt was drawn. The delivered ones of this day spoke and gave praise: elders and youths, young men and young women, children and the perfect, and the Church, the mother of the city. For the elders were withheld from captivity, the young men from slavery, the wicked from oppression, women from prostitution, and the Church from plunder. He came to you with the hard things of his strength, full of eyes; and he came with the gentle things, his beauty full of the hour. Be silent and rest a little, taste his sweetness which is without end, like the beast of the field that learns. With pulling and dragging, they stood still because they were silent from her. The error rebelled and became a crier in the market. He paid and not with his strength, he saved and not with his shame. He struck many walls, he cast down many sins, because his coming was narrow, his going was wide. He was cast down when he knew you, that you would dwell. In the evening he set up his wall for him; in the morning he turned his wall against him. The short one passed from you, the truth passed from you. He lay in wait at the gates to pay your debts. He set up shades by which he humbled your pride. He opened seas by which he drowned your polity. He bound you that he might be bound in his temple; he bound you that he might be bound to you; he opened for you, he showed you, he hid himself from you. To the dwelling of the dead he hid himself from you, that he might ascend in all your inner parts. Know that the blessed ones, the sons of the living, when they return, it is not by shades they return, nor by the hand of seas, nor by gates, nor by bows.

He was not the voice of the cymbal that they feared and repented; they heard the voice, the madman silenced the wicked ones of their people. They bent the young men of their people, they humbled the kings of their people. The salvation and righteousness that was not hasty; the deliverance and confession of sin that was not equal. Sin and not error, and it announced that sin would return to you. It was revealed to you what sin does to you. You knew the sinners and you knew that sin would sin. In the iniquity that was and is, you were reconciling when sin. The shame of your repentance is ashamed of your sins. Nor did the measure rise head by head in equality, for your iniquity increased the shadow and your repentance vanished. He commanded that you be sold for your sin. He imprisoned his sin, the cold and the great. Sin repaid the silence that brought your repentance. The firstborn increased in the small sin, he left you, so that the good that was pleasing to his affliction might be sought, so that the one who was distressed might rejoice again in his goodness. Eyes full of tears give to him. He troubles his affliction because he sought and left much. The sins that he left increased, the tongues increased. They are not able to bring forth against his goodness. He left you and did not leave you, his repayers turned. The iniquity that sinned, its writers again. Leave, my Lord, my sin cries out, my Lord, my sin prays. Leave me that I erred, my Lord, my sin seeks that which instructs me. Nor did my sin labor for my sake like strangers. They raised up mounds, my sin, but not voices. They began a wall, my sin, but not knots.

The madmen within the heart of the city, they released; He wronged the capable ones because of the debts. The labor he wronged outside, while he was wronged from within. He let loose the talkers and struck the silent ones. The wall was being built and the people were being made wise. He had pity on the aged, he struck the one who did not feel. For instead of the souls that felt, He struck the stone that had no feeling, to the point of exhaustion. In his love he left the body and ran to strike the wall. How narrow was the sight that became the gate, like a spectacle. Look at it, two sides, it served outside and inside. They saw in it, as if in mirrors, the force that broke and grieved. They saw him who opened and again closed. The outsiders saw his strength, they weighed it and did not diminish it. The insiders saw his help, they confessed it and did not deny it. The day of your salvation, he awakened your blessedness. When the wall was opened and when the elephants were subdued, When the spearmen were guarding and when the men were striking, The sight was for the heavens. The wicked one brought near, there he was guilty; the righteous one shouted, there he was. Mercy conquered from below, the watchmen cried out from above. And woe to the one who entered your enclosure, who is pure in his prayers, To the wall that surrounds you, a rampart for your inhabitants. And woe to the one who did not find, and because he did not hope, That he would open the door also upon the one who was satisfied. His door not in one way, and in haste and not in shame, Until three times, when he shamed three by three. Increase also for me within you, blessedness in goodness, That my sins may increase in you, your fruits may increase in you.

And weep for the sins of my youth, weep so that my old age may be absolved. With the mouth of your sons, seek on your behalf, that I have sinned outside beyond my strength, and I have returned within less than my strength. I have cast out without measure, and I have grieved within with little measure.