e,--uprose the blast,
The avenger, fit to be the last:
On ocean, river, forest, vale,
Thundered at once the mighty gale.
Before the whirlwind flew the tree,
Beneath the whirlwind roared the sea;
A thousand ships were on the wave--
Where are they?--ask that foaming grave!
Down go the hope, the pride of years,
Down go the myriad mariners;
The riches of earth's richest zone,
Gone! like a flash of lightning, gone!
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IX.
And, lo! that first fierce triumph o'er,
Swells ocean on the shrinking shore;
Still onward, onward, dark and wide,
Engulfs the land the furious tide..
Then bowed thy spirit, stubborn king,
Thou serpent, reft of fang and sting;
Humbled before the prophet's knee,
He groaned, "Be injured Israel free!"
X.
To heaven the sage upraised his hand;
Back rolled the deluge from the land;
Back to its caverns sank the gale;
Fled from the moon the vapors pale;
Broad burned again the joyous sun:
The hour of wrath and death was done.
--_Croly_.
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7. THE PLAGUE OF HAIL.
And the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven,
that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon
beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of
Egypt."
And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent
thunder and hail, and lightning; and the Lord sent hail upon the land
of Egypt. So there was hail, and lightning mingled with the hail, very
grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it
became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt
all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote
every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in
the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no
hail. And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to
them, "I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my
people are wicked. Intreat the Lord; for there hath been enough of
these mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall
stay no longer."
And Moses said unto him, "As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will
spread abroad my hands to the Lord; the thunders shall cease, neither
shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is
the Lord's. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not
yet fear the Lord God.
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