Hymn XIII (Carmina Nisibena XIII)
Hymn XIII is the hymn of the three bishops — Jacob the first, Vologeses the second, and Abraham the third — and is named for its own subjects: the melody indicator reads "On Mar Jacob and his companions." The hymn is architecturally rigorous, built almost entirely in triads: three lights (in the pattern of two), three doors opened by three keys, three phases of the sun, three eras of the city’s history, three modes of wrath meeting three bishops’ responses. The organizing sequence follows the sun: Jacob’s era is the sharp bright rising (establishing ecclesiastical order, the great siege, the tree’s boughs growing to heaven); Vologeses’ era is the hot strong midday (kings coming down and going up, the crown circling the churches drawing near and withdrawing, the false peace of the Jovian surrender of Nisibis in 363); Abraham’s era is the gentle sweet evening (ambassadors and mercy, grace beyond repaying, the peaceful departure of the city’s faithful with their churches). The hymn then turns to Nisibis herself — the daughter of vows, more blessed than all women, whose need was always met in full measure, whose fathers came according to her births and teachers according to her distinctions. Grace weighed the bishops in the balance and drew them out by generation toward perfection. The final movement is the most luminous: Nisibis stands on hidden and revealed waters (the living springs within and the Mygdonius river outside). The outside river betrayed her — Shapur weaponized it to flood the walls. The inside spring kept her. Jacob, her cultivator, grew her boughs to heaven, then died and was buried within her, becoming a seed-fruit in her womb. When the cutters arrived, the fruit within kept her. More: Nisibis herself, in her prudence, ran and placed her cultivator inside her womb — so that she might be delivered by her cultivator, as if by a child. The final verse gives the instruction to the daughters of Nisibis: she placed a mortal body inside herself and it became her exterior wall. Do likewise — place the living Body inside you, that it may become the wall of your lives.
I.
Three glorious priests, in the pattern of two lights —
they delivered to one another throne and hand and flock.
Much as the double grief is ours, the last is all consolation.
Refrain: To you glory, who chose them.
II.
He who made two lights chose for himself three lights
and fixed them in three enclosed darknesses that had come to be —
for when the pair of lights goes out, the other is all radiance.
III.
Three priests, our stewards, holding to their truth —
with the key of the Trinity they opened three doors for us.
Each one, with his key, in his time was opening his door.
IV.
The first opened the door to the discipline that came upon us;
the second opened the door to the kingdom that came down to us;
the last opened the door to the good news that rises toward us.
V.
The first opened a door to the warfare of both armies;
the second opened doors to the kings of both winds;
the third opened the door of the ambassadors of both sides.
VI.
The first opened the door to war on account of sins;
the second opened the door to kings on account of struggle;
the last opened the door to ambassadors on account of mercy.
VII.
Lo, in three generations, as if in mystery and symbol,
wrath was likened to the sun: it began from beside the first,
grew strong beside the second, and dipped and was extinguished by the last.
VIII.
The sun too shows three symbols at three phases:
sharp and bright its rising, strong and hot its midday,
and like creation brought to fullness, gentle and sweet its ending.
IX.
Light and bright its rising — it comes to wake the sleepers;
warm and intense its midday — it comes to ripen the fruits;
beloved and sweet its ending — it has reached its fullness.
X.
Who is she, the daughter, the daughter of vows, more blessed than all women —
whose generations ran thus, and whose orders multiplied thus,
and whose ranks rose thus, and whose teachers triumphed thus?
XI.
To the daughter of Abraham alone had these likenesses come —
or to you, daughter of vows, according to your beauty, your adornment.
For according to your time is your help, and according to your help was your service.
XII.
Against the deficiency of her need came the filling of her need;
her fathers according to her births, her teachers according to her distinctions;
her upbringing according to her growth, her garments according to her statures.
XIII.
Grace gave them all weighed in the balance,
placed them in proportion that help might come from them,
drew them out by generation that perfection might come from them.
XIV.
In the days of the first, peace was great — and peace was complete;
in the days of the second, kings came down and kings went up;
but in the days of the last, armies vanished and the armies disbanded.
XV.
In the first, the orders came in — they came with him and went out with him;
in the second, the crown that circled our churches drew near and withdrew;
but in the last came down to us grace beyond repaying.
XVI.
Against the first wrath, the labor of the first fought back;
against the midday blaze, the shadow of the second stood firm;
against the false peace, the last multiplied warnings.
XVII.
The first captivity encountered the first and glorious priest;
the second captivity encountered the second and merciful priest;
but the prayers of the last secretly repair our breaches.
XVIII.
Nisibis is planted on waters — hidden waters and revealed;
living springs within her, the proud river outside her.
The river outside betrayed her; the spring inside kept her.
XIX.
The first priest was her cultivator — her boughs grew up into heaven;
but lo, he died and was buried within her — he became a fruit in her womb.
Therefore when the cutters came, the fruit within her kept her.
XX.
The time of her cutting came upon him who had taken her cultivator;
that there might be no claim against her, she herself ran in her prudence —
she placed her cultivator in her womb, that she might be saved by her cultivator.
XXI.
The daughters of Nisibis who speak are made like unto Nisibis —
for she placed a body within herself, and it became a wall outside her.
Place the living Body within you, that it may become a wall for your lives.
Colophon
Carmina Nisibena XIII — translated from Classical Syriac by the DSS Translator lineage, 2026-03-23. Translation independently derived from the Digital Syriac Corpus base text (Beck/DSC, CC-BY 4.0). McVey’s Paulist edition not consulted. Lexical verification against Payne Smith’s Thesaurus Syriacus and Costaz’s Dictionnaire syriaque–français. The Blood Rule holds.
Meter: tricolon stanzas — three long cola per stanza, roughly 12-syllable lines; structurally distinct from the pentacolon stanzas of Hymns I–XII. Melody: ܜܲܠ ܡ݄ܪܽ ܝܰܠܶܘܦ ܘܠܠ ܭܒܪߍܘܗܽ — "On Mar Jacob and his companions" — the melody is named for this hymn’s own subject, suggesting the hymn was foundational to the Nisibene liturgy. Refrain (ʿunītā): ܠ݃ ܫܘܒܭ݄ دରگبل إنّ — To you glory, who chose them — sung after each stanza.
Voice and structure: Theological eulogy in triads. Five movements: (I) The triple episcopate as pattern of lights (I–III) — three priests like two-made-three lights, each with his key of the Trinity opening his own door in his own time; the theological claim is that the episcopal succession itself is providential and patterned on cosmological structures. (II) The three doors (IV–VI) — each bishop opened a specific door to the world: Jacob opened discipline (the siege, the testing); Vologeses opened the kingdom and kings (the political upheaval of the Jovian cession); Abraham opened the good news and ambassadors (the gracious departure, mercy triumphing over loss). Three stanzas elaborate this from three angles — what event, what agents, what spiritual cause. (III) The sun typology (VII–IX) — wrath over the three generations tracked the sun’s three phases; the sun’s three qualities named twice: once in cosmological terms (symbol, mystery), once in pastoral terms (the sleepers it wakes, the fruits it ripens, the fullness it completes). (IV) The daughter of vows (X–XIII) — Nisibis as the blessed daughter, more fortunate than all women; her graces are proportionate to her needs in every dimension — fathers to births, teachers to distinctions, garments to stature; grace gave everything weighed in the balance and drawn out by generation toward perfection. (V) The planted city and the cultivator’s burial (XIV–XXI) — three historical eras reviewed; each bishop against each affliction; then the pivot to Nisibis as city planted (name-pun) on hidden and revealed waters, the outside river that betrayed her and the inside spring that kept her; Jacob as cultivator who grew her boughs to heaven, died in her, became the fruit-seed whose burial protected her when the Persians came; Nisibis’s own prudential act of placing Jacob’s body in her womb, to be saved by her cultivator; the Eucharistic instruction to the daughters: do likewise — receive the living Body as Nisibis received the mortal body, and it will be your wall.
Key translation choices: ܒܦܘܢ݄ دبرة نهيرین (I) = in the pattern of two lights — the three bishops are patterned on the two great lights of Genesis 1:16, but exceed them; where creation has two, God chose three; the trio illuminates three consecutive darknesses rather than the single night the two lights share. كورسیا وایدا ومرعیتا (I) = throne and hand and flock — the three episcopal realities transmitted in succession: the episcopal seat (authority), the hand of ordination (transmission of charism), and the pastoral flock (the community); the triad is precise and canonical. ܓܙܒܪʾര (III) = stewards / treasurers — from Syriac, itself a borrowing from Middle Persian ganzvar (treasurer); the bishops are keepers of the treasury of the Trinity; the key they hold is the key of the Trinity itself, distributed three ways. مردوتا دإتات علين (IV) = discipline that came upon us — the Nisibene sieges as divine pedagogy; Jacob’s era is the era of coming to terms with suffering as formation. میلكی دروحی ترتيهين (V) = kings of both winds — Roman and Persian emperors, designated by the two cardinal winds (East and West); Vologeses’ era was the political era par excellence. شينا طلوما (XVI) = the false peace — the Jovian peace of 363 AD in which Rome surrendered Nisibis to Shapur was technically "peace" but was a peace that wronged the city; Abraham multiplied warnings against accepting it as genuine. حبشا (XVII) = captivity — the successive confinements of the city; the first bishop met the siege of 338, the second the cession of 363; each bishop met his era’s captivity. نصيبين نصيبت (XVIII) = Nisibis is planted — the name-pun: Nisibis from the root to plant; the city name means "planted/set," and Ephrem uses this to say she was planted on both visible water (the Mygdonius) and invisible water (her interior springs). نهرا گایا (XVIII) = the proud river — Shapur in 338 dammed the Mygdonius upstream and directed the flood against the city’s walls; the proud river became a weapon against her. فاسوقی (XIX) = the cutters — the Persians who came to cut the city’s roots; Jacob’s buried body — "the fruit within her" — was the counter-force that kept her standing. بصنیعوتها (XX) = in her prudence — Nisibis is personified as an agent of theological wisdom who understood that receiving the holy body of her bishop was an act of protective devotion. فگرا حيا (XXI) = the living Body — the Eucharistic word for the Body of Christ in Syriac liturgy; as Nisibis placed the mortal body of Jacob within herself and it became her protecting wall, so the daughters of Nisibis should receive the living Body of Christ in the Eucharist, which will become the wall protecting their lives. The image unifies the whole: city as body, burial as planting, resurrection as fruit, Eucharist as living wall.
🌲
Source Text: Ephrem the Syrian — Hymns on Nisibis, Hymn 13 (Carmina Nisibena 13)
ܜܠ ܩܠ݄ (melody indicator): ܜܠ ܡ݄ܪܽ ܝܰܠܶܘܦ ܘܠܠ ܭܒܪߍܘܗܽ
1.
تلثة كهنین نصيحین بطوفسا دترين نهيرین
يبلو واشلمو لحددی كورسیا وايدا ومرعيتا
دسجي لن إبلا دترين كوله آخرايا بوياا هو
2.
هو دبرا ترين نهيرين گبا له تلثة نهيرین
وقبع إنون بتلثة حشوكی حبيشی دهوو
ددعكو زوجا دنهيرین آخرنا كوله زليقا هو
3.
تلثة كهنين گزبری دآحيدين بشراريهون
آقليده دتليتايوتا ترعی تلثة فتحو هوو لن
حد حد منهون بقليده بزبنه ترعه فتح هوا
4.
بقدمايا فتح هوا ترعا لمردوتا دإتات علين
بمصعايا فتح هوا ترعا لملكوتا دنحتت صدين
بآخرايا فتح هوا ترعا لسبرتا دسلقا صدين
5.
بقدمايا ترعا فتح هوا لقرابا دكنشی تريهون
بمصعايا ترعی فتح هوا لملكی دروحی ترتيهين
بتليتايا فتح ترعا دآيزگدی دگبی تريهون
6.
بقدمايا فتح ترعا لقرابا مطول حوبی
بمصعايا فتح ترعا لملكی مطول تكتوشا
بآخرايا فتح ترعا لآيزگدی مطول رحمی
7.
ها بتلثة يوبلين آيك دبآرازا وبطوفسا
روغزا لشمشا إتدمي شري من صيد قدمايا
وإتگبر صيد مصعايا عمد وإتطلق بآخرايا
8.
آف شمشا طوفسی تلثة محوی بتلث فنياتا
حريف وزهی شورايه عزيزا وقشيا مصعته
وآيك لبريتا دإتگمرت نيح وبسيم شولمه
9.
قليل وزهی شوريه دلدمكی هو آتی دنعير
حميما وقشيا مصعته دفئری آتی دنبشل
رحيم وبسيم شولمه دمطا له لگميروتا
10.
من هي برتا برت ندری حسيمت من كول نقباتا
دردو هكن يوبليه وسجيو هكن طوكسيه
وسلقو هكن دوراگيه ونصحو هكن ربانيه
11.
لبرته بلحود دآبرهام هوي هوي هلين دمواتا
آو لكي برتا ندری دلوقبل شوفره تصبيته
آيك زبنه گير عودرانه وآيك عودرانه شمشه
12.
لوقبل حوسران سونقانه إتا له مولاي سونقانه
آبهيه آيك مولديه وربانيه آيك فورشانيه
تربيته آيك روبايه ولبوشيه آيك قوماته
13.
تقلت يهبت طيبوتا كولهين آيك دبمساتا
سمت إنين بفوحاما دنهوی منهين عودرانا
نگدت إنين بيوبلا دنهوی منهين شوكللا
14.
بيومته دهو قدمايا سجي شينا وگمر شينا
بيومته دهو مصعايا نحتو ملكی وسلقو ملكی
بيومته دين دآخرايا تكبو گيسی وفسق گيسی
15.
بقدمايا علو طوكسی علو عمه ونفقو عمه
بمصعايا قرب وإترحق تاگا دحدر عداتن
بآخرايا دين دنحت لن طيبوتا دلا متفرعا
16.
لوقبل روغزا قدمايا آقرب عمله دقدمايا
لوقبل شوبا دبطهرا قم طلله دمصعايا
لوقبل شينا طلوما آسجي آخرايا زوهارا
17.
لحبشا قدما آرعه كهنا قدما ونصيحا
لحبشا دترین آرعه كهنا دترین رحمنا
صلواته دين دآخرايا سگ تورعتن كسيايت
18.
نصيبين نصيبت عل ميا ميا كسيا وگليا
نبعی حيی لگو منه نهرا گايا لبر منه
نهرا دلبر دگل به مبوعا دلگو نطره
19.
كهنا قدما فلحه سوكيه ربي بشميا
ها ميت وقبير بگوه هوا له فئرا بگو عوبه
بدگون دإتو فسوقی فئرا دبگوه نطره
20.
مطا هوا زبنا دفسقه عل هو دبره لفلحه
دلا نهوی عليه بعايا رهطت هي بصنيعوته
سمته بعوبه لفلحه دتتفصی بيد فلحه
21.
دمياين مللاتا بنات نصيبين لنصيبين
دسمت فگرا لگو منه وهوا شورا لبر منه
سيمين بكين فگرا حيا دنهوی شورا لحييكين
عونيتا (Refrain): عونيتا: لك شوبحا دگبيت إنون
Source Colophon
Syriac text from the Digital Syriac Corpus (DSC), file 270.xml. TEI edition CC BY 4.0 (syriaccorpus.org/270). Based on the critical edition of Edmund Beck, Carmina Nisibena (CSCO 218/219, Louvain, 1961). Transcription by Michael Oez.
🌲