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Hymns and Homilies

St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Burgess, 1853

25. Hymn 25: Hymn for the Evening

In the time of evening
Let praise be given to Thee,
From the united tongues
Of the children of men.

Thou hast given the daytime
For business and labour,
And that we may provide
All useful things.

Behold all who are oppressed
With heavy toil,
Return Thee their thanks
Because Thou dost give them repose.

Who is the being
That will not worship Thee,
Because Thou carest so much
For our humanity?

Thou hast set up the lights of heaven,
With appointed seasons in the evening,
That Thou mayest reprove him
Who is never satisfied,

With the bodily strength
Of his fellow creatures,
Who labour for him freely
Through all the day.

To the hungry and thirsty—
To those who labour and are fatigued—
The evening comes,
And sets them at liberty.

The season of evening
Hath now arrived,
And maketh joyful
The world and its labourers.

But he who is not pitiful
Towards his fellows,
And he who is avaricious
Not being satisfied with his work,—

The evening despises him
And treats him with contempt,
And his oppressive covetousness
Is not satisfied.

Blessed be Thy Majesty
Who from the beginning,
Hast carefully regarded
Our human nature.

Who hast appointed a returning
To the children of men,
And all living creatures
In the time of evening.

He hath put a seal upon His Church
And defendeth her children,
From the adversary Satan
And from all his hosts.

Let Thy cross become
A secure passage,
To Thy flock which is redeemed
With Thy living blood.

Let Thy peace, Lord, be diffused
Through the four regions of the earth;
And let the wicked one flee away
From the midst of us.

From every tongue
Of all animated creatures,
And from all places,
Let praise ascend.

And we together with them,
Will ascribe glory
To Thee, O Lord, and to the Father,
And to the Holy Ghost.