| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | To God | | By Gregory Nanzianzen (Trans. Allen W. Chatfield) |
| | | O THOU, the One supreme o’er all! | |
| For by what other name | |
| May we upon thy greatness call, | |
| Or celebrate thy fame? | |
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| Ineffable! to thee what speech | 5 |
| Can hymns of honor raise? | |
| Ineffable! what tongue can reach | |
| The measure of thy praise? | |
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| How, unapproached, shall mind of man | |
| Descry Thy dazzling throne, | 10 |
| And pierce and find thee out, and scan | |
| Where thou dost dwell alone? | |
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| Unuttered thou! all uttered things | |
| Have had their birth from thee; | |
| The one unknown! from thee the springs | 15 |
| Of all we know and see! | |
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| And all things, as they move along | |
| In order fixed by thee, | |
| Thy watchword heed, in silent song | |
| Hymning thy majesty. | 20 |
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| And lo! all things abide in thee, | |
| And through the complex whole, | |
| Thou spread’st thine own divinity, | |
| Thyself of all the goal. | |
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| One being thou, all things, yet none, | 25 |
| Nor one nor yet all things; | |
| How call thee, O mysterious One? | |
| A worthy name, who brings? | |
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| All-named from attributes thine own, | |
| How call thee as we ought? | 30 |
| Thou art unlimited, alone, | |
| Beyond the range of thought. | | | | |
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