XCVI.

War with the Canaanites. Bezek taken. Adoni-bezek punifh'd.

T

O Shilob's Oracle the Tribes repair,

And wait for Orders to renew the War:
Warn'd by their murm'ring Fathers impious Ragė,
They dare no more without Command engage:
Brave Judah's Sons the Pofts of Honour gain,
Which with fev'n harness'd Myriads they maintain ;
Their Royal Lion warring in the Field,
Unknowing to retreat, and lefs to yield:
Proud Bezek's fpatious Walls with Turrets crown'd,
On ev'ry fide the Hoft of God furround:
Too weak the Town to bear their firft attack,
They push the Foe, they storm, they gain, they fack;
While Bezek's haughty Lord refifts in vain,
Nor can his trembling Guards the Fight maintain:
Ignoble Flight with like Succefs he tries,

A fhort Reprieve with Shame too dearly buys:
Purfu'd and feiz'd, the fame hard Fate he bore,
Which fev'nty Kings had done from him before;
Who glean'd their Meat beneath the Tyrant's Board,
The Footstools they of their imperious Lord;
Maim'd and abus'd--- he still prolong'd their Breath,
As envy'ng them the Luxury of Death.
He owns his Fate is Juft--- and fo muft all,
Who as they trace his Crimes may share his Fall:
Stifled with Malice, Pride and Rage he dies,
To clear a Providence, and vindicate the Skies.

CXVI.

JUDGES, Chap. I. from Ver. 1. to

175.

Ver. 8.

Ver. 5. They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him,and they flew the Canaanites, and the Perizzites.

6. But Adoni-bezek fled, and they pursued after him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

7. And Adoni-bezek faid, Threefcore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, fo God hath requited me.

XCVII.

Judah conquers Hebron and Debir. Achfah given to Othniel.

Strong from anakean Arba nam'd;

TrongHebron next thro' Canaan's Regions fam'd,

Judah's victorious Army dar'd oppose,
Who faw unmov'd their huge Gigantic Foes:
The monstrous Sons of Anak faw from far,
Each nodding Terrour, each himself a War.
Low in the Plain encamp'd the Hebrews lay,
Whom from the Walls with fcorn their Foes furvey:
Behold above the reft proud Shefhai ftand,
Who own'd no God but his own ftrong Right-
hand:

The Fear of Ifrael he aloud defies,

And darts retorted curses at the Skies :
Nor valiant Othniel this, who from below,
Shoots o're the Hill to meet th' unequal Foe:
Thro' Darts, thro' Swords, thro' Show'rs of Death
he's born,

Thro' rocky Fragments from the Mountain torn :
See him upon the tallest Rampart stand,

And meet the bold Blafphemer hand to hand:
His well-known Sword he rais'd (the dreadful
Blade,

With choiceft Skill at rich Damafcus made,)
And cleaves him to the Twist.-

---Still like a half demolish'd Tow'r he ftood,
And his warm Entrails fpouted Seas of Blood:

Ατ

At length he falls, and num'rous Crowds beneath,
In his wide Ruins find their Grave and Death:
Dread and Dismay the weak Defendants seize,
By Ifrael trampled, and deftroy'd with ease.
To Debir next victorious Othniel goes,
Their Battlements he fcales, and routs his Foes:
Below the beauteous Achfab view'd the Fight,
Honour, and Love at once enflam'd her Knight:
Honour bids high, but Love had stronger Charms,
He comes, and reaps the Fruit of Conqueft in her
Arms.

JUDGES, Chap. I. Ver. 10. to 13.

Ver. 1c. And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron, (now the name of Hebron bea fore was Kirjath-arba) and they New Shefhai and Ahiman, and Talmai.

II. And from thence he went against the inhabi tants of Debir (and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-fepher,)

:

12. And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathfepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achfah my daughter to wife.

13. And Othniel the fon of Kenaz, Calebs younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achfah his daughter to wife.

XCVIII.

Deborah and Barak. Fael and Sifera.

OR Ifraei's Sins fierce Jabin them fubdues, And baffled Canaan's defp'rate Claim renews; While Sis'ra his victorious Char'ots leads, And Slaughter all around, and Ruin fpreads: Lopp'd Arms, and bleeding Heads lie ftrow'd be neath

His Murd'ring Scythes, too hard for Time or Death:
His fiery Courfers trampling o'er the Plain,
Their brazen Hoofs dash round a fanguine Rain.
Degen'rate Ifr'el Sons embrace their Chain,
Their very Souls enflav'd--- But heav'n can find
In female Breafts a more than manly Mind :
The Sex that boaft themselves for Empire made,
Had dropp'd the Sword, the Sov'reign Pow'r be
tray'd:

Undaunted Deborah reclaims their Right,
And with Abin'am's Son defcends to fight:
The Heathen hear, their dreadful Chariots arm,
And on the Banks of ancient Kihon fwarm;
Cluft'ring above, an Iron-Wall, they ftood,
Breaft-high, God's Army marches o're the Flood:
They caft their Darts, they mount, they joyn, they
And Sisra bears the News of his Defeat: (beat,
Inglorious Chief! himself the News did bring,
He fav'd his precious Life for Canaan's King.
How fhort the Life which he in vain did fave?
How foon the fatal Stroke a Woman gave?
Sleeping he dies, unknowing yields his Breath,
Now firft couragious feems, for now he fmiles on
Death.
XCVIII