It's done! Genesis is done!

Finally these long months of work have found their conclusion, and the first draft of Genesis A & B is complete. I probably will take a few months off from doing any new work, but stay tuned for updates and revisions to the Genesis as well as the other poems that are part of ASNPP.

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Afterwards the blessed son of Terah was settled among the Philistines,
the Hebrew people for a long time were destitute amid an alien nation.
The Lord of Angels showed him a camp that city-dwelling men called
the land of Beersheba. There the holy one built a lofty high-hall
and city and established a grove, creating an altar and making
sacrifice to his Sovereign in that fiery place, a sufficient gift,
to him who gave them life, blessedly under the heavens. (2834-45)

Then the Almighty began to test that warrior, inquiring eagerly
which of those noblemen were courageous, with harsh words
he spoke him in a dream: “Go forth quickly, Abraham, travel
and make tracks—and lead with you your own son. You shall
sacrifice Isaac your own son, as an offering to me. After you
have climbed the steep mountains, the ring around the high lands,
which I shall show you hence, upon your own feet, where you
shall prepare a pyre, an offering-fire for your child and you shall
kill your son yourself with the edge of a sword and you shall
burn up the body of your dear one and offer me a sacrifice.” (2846-59)

Nor did Abraham delay that journey, but he began to hurry
at once upon the trip. For him was the word of the Lord of Angels
dreadful and his Sovereign dear. Then the blessed Abraham
gave over his night-rest. Not at all would he oppose the behest
of the Savior, but the holy man girded himself with a grey sword,
knowing that the terror of the Warden of Souls dwelt within his breast.
He began to harness his donkey, the ancient dispenser of gold,
ordering his two young servants to travel with them.
His own son was the third of that company and he was the fourth. (2860-70a)

Hurrying he then departed, leading Isaac from his home, a child ungrown,
just as the Measurer had ordered him. Then he swiftly approached
and hastened forth over the earth-paths as the Lord had showed him
the ways through the wasteland, until the third day, glory-bright,
rose up over the deep water. Then the blessed man saw towering
the high hill just as the Lord of the Skies had said to him before. (2870b-79)

Then Abraham spoke to his servants: “My men, rest here in this place.
We will come again after we two have given the Soul-King our message.” (2880-84)

Then the nobleman left with his own son to the place that the Lord
had shown him, walking through the woods. The son bore wood,
the father fore and sword. Then the winter-young man wordfully
began to inquire of Abraham: “Here we have fire and sword,
my lord. But where is the offering which you mean to bring
to the sacrificial flame for bright God?” (2885-92)

Abraham spoke—he had set his mind that he would do what his Lord
had ordered him: “The Truth-King will find it for himself,
the Warden of Mankind, just as it seems fitting to him.” (2893-96)
Then stiff-minded he climbed up the steep hill with his son,
just as the Perpetual One had commanded him, so that he stood
on the roof of the high lands in that place which the Mighty One,
the Troth-Fast Measurer had shown to him wordfully. (2897-2901)

Then he began to pile up a pyre, building a fire and he bound
his own son foot and hand and then heaved young Isaac
onto the flame, and then he grabbed his sword at once
by its hilt and would have killed his son with his own hands,
sunk him into the fire and the blood of his own kin.
Then a thane of the Measurer, a certain angel from above,
called Abraham with a loud voice. He waited for
that messenger’s speech and answered that angel.
Then the glory-spirit of God spoke in words to him
in haste from the heavens above: (2902-13)

“Dear Abraham, do not kill your own son but draw the boy
living from the flame, your own heir! To him God gives glory!
Kin of the Hebrews, you shall take up the reward of the Heaven-King
through this holy hands, the true requitals of victory itself, a vast gift.
The Warden of Souls will reward you with delights because
his peace and favor was dearer to you than your own son.” (2914-22)

The pyre stood fired. The Measurer of Mankind had made blissful
the breast of Abraham, the kinsman of Lot, when he gave back
to him his child Isaac alive. Then the blessed warrior, the brother
of Haran looked over his shoulder and he saw there a ram nearby
standing alone, caught fast in the brambles. Then Abraham seized it
and heaved it onto the flames with the greatest hurry for his own son.
Then he drew his sword and reddened the offering, the smoking altar
with the blood of the ram, and consecrated that sacrifice to God,
saying thanks for all the rewards that the Lord of Graces
had, early and late, had given to him. (2923-36)

[End]