9. For holy children of good men offered sacrifice in secret, And with one consent they took upon themselves the covenant of the divine law, That they would partake alike in the same good things and the same perils; The fathers already leading the sacred songs of praise.
10. But there sounded back in discord the cry of the enemies, And a piteous voice of lamentation for children was borne abroad.
11. And servant along with master punished with a like just doom, And commoner suffering the same as king,
12. Yes, all the people together, under one form of death, Had with them corpses without number; For the living were not sufficient even to bury them, Since at a single stroke their nobler offspring was consumed.
13. For while they were disbelieving all things by reason of the enchantments, Upon the destruction of the firstborn they confessed the people to be God’s son.
14. For while peaceful silence enwrapped all things, And night in her own swiftness was in mid course,
15. Your all-powerful word leaped from heaven out of the royal throne, A stern warrior, into the midst of the doomed land,
16. Bearing as a sharp sword your unfeigned commandment; And standing it filled all things with death; And while it touched the heaven it trode upon the earth.
17. Then forthwith apparitions in dreams terribly troubled them, And fears came upon them unlooked for.
18. And each, one thrown here half dead, another there, Made manifest wherefore he was dying:
19. For the dreams, perturbing them, did foreshew this, That they might not perish without knowing why they were afflicted.
20. But it befell the righteous also to make trial of death, And a multitude were stricken in the wilderness: Howbeit the wrath endured not for long.