overruling Providence both the source and the justification of the enigma of his life. 1. "Thou enticedst me, Iahvah, and I was enticed, Thou urgedst[83] me, and didst prevail! I am become a derision all the day long. Every one mocketh at me. 2. "For as oft as I speak, I cry alarm, Violence and havoc do I proclaim; For Iahvah's word is become to me a reproach, And a scoff all the day long. 3. "And if I say, I will not mind it, Nor speak any more in His Name; Then it becometh in my heart like a burning fire prisoned in my bones. And I weary of holding it in[84] and am not able. 4. "For I have heard the defaming of many, the terror on every side;[85] All the men of my friendship are watching for my fall; 'Perchance he will be enticed, and we shall prevail over him, And take our revenge of him.' 5. "Yet Iahvah is with me as a dread warrior, Therefore my pursuers shall stumble and not prevail; They shall be greatly ashamed, for that they have not prospered, With eternal dishonour that shall not be forgotten. 6. "And Iahvah Sabaoth trieth the righteous, Seeth the reins and the heart; I shall see Thy revenge of them, For unto Thee have I committed my quarrel. 7. Sing ye to Iahvah, acclaim ye Iahvah! For He hath snatched the poor man's life out of the hand of evildoers." The cause was of God. _Thou didst lure me, Iahvah, and I let myself be lured; Thou urgedst me and wert victorious._ He had not rashly and presumptuously taken upon himself this office of prophet; he had been called, and had resisted the call, until his scruples and his pleadings were overcome, as was only natural, by a Will more powerful than his own (chap. i. 6). In speaking of the inward persuasions which determined the course of his life, he uses the very terms which are used by the author of Kings in connexion with the spirit that misled the prophets of Arab before the fatal expedition to Ramoth Gilead. _And he said, Thou shalt entice, and also be victorious_ (1 Kings xxii. 22). Iahvah, therefore, has treated him as an enemy rather than a friend, for He has lured him to his own destruction. Half in irony, half in bitter complaint, the prophet declares that Iahvah has succeeded only too well in His malign purpose: _I am become a derision all the day long; Every one mocketh at me_.