_The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall have them in derision._
He who has heard that laughter sees no comedy in aught else. This is the one unfailing subject of Hebrew satire, and it forms the irony and the rigour of the following ode.[79]
[79] Readers will remember a parallel to this ode in Carlyle's famous chapter on Louis the Unforgotten. No modern has rivalled Carlyle in his inheritance of this satire, except it be he whom Carlyle called "that Jew blackguard Heine."
The only other remarks necessary are these. In ver. 9 the Authorized Version has not attempted to reproduce the humour of the original satire, which styles them that were chief men on earth _chief-goats_ of the herd, bell-wethers. The phrase _they that go down to the stones of the pit_ should be transferred from ver. 19 to ver. 20.
_And thou shalt lift up this proverb upon the King of Babylon, and shalt say,_--
Ah! stilled is the tyrant, And stilled is the fury! Broke hath Jehovah the rod of the wicked, Sceptre of despots: Stroke of (the) peoples with passion, Stroke unremitting, Treading in wrath (the) nations, Trampling unceasing. Quiet, at rest, is the whole earth, They break into singing; Even the pines are jubilant for thee, Lebanon's cedars! "Since thou liest low, cometh not up Feller against us."