The God of Abraham may chasten, but

He keeps his promises, nor will forsake.

[49]

Rameses sat upon his haughty throne

And knew not Joseph, for my people were

Oppressed with bitter bondage and their lives

Made hard in mortar and in brick; but still

They grew in numbers and increased and waxed

Exceeding mighty, till the land was filled

With them. And then the king was sore afraid

And wroth because the Jews had never bent

The knee at Egypt's shrines. He could enslave

But not corrupt the children of the true

And living God. And then he called

The Hebrew midwives and commanded them

To slay thereafter every son that might

Be born to Jacob's sacred blood. God kept

His covenant with Abraham and raised

Up Moses, the deliverer, and when

The plagues had failed to soften Pharaoh's heart,

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