The Book of Hesk

The Elder Rime · Fourteenth Book · The Prophet of the Exile and the Re-Frozen Bones

Overview: Book of Hesk. Full text below.

Chapter 1

1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the warm canals of Bavel, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of the Cold. 2 On that day the hand of the Hoarfather was upon me. 3 As I looked, behold, a storming wind came out of the north, and a great cloud with brightness around it, and cold-fire flashing without ceasing; and in the midst of the fire there was something like gleaming frost-crystal. 4 And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had a human form. 5 Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 6 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they gleamed like burnished frost-crystal. 7 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands; and the four had their faces and their wings thus: 8 Their wings touched one another; they went every one straight forward, without turning as they went. 9 As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face in front; the four had the face of an ice-wolf on the right side; the four had the face of a pale owl on the left side; and the four had the face of an ice-eagle in the back. 10 Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another; and two wings covered their bodies. 11 And each went straight forward. Wherever the cold-spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. 12 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of cold-fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. 13 And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning. 14 Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. 15 As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of frost-crystal; and the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. 16 When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. 17 And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. 18 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 19 Wherever the cold-spirit went, the wheels went, and they rose together with them; for the cold-spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 20 Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring frost-crystal, spread out above their heads. 21 And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another; and each creature had two wings covering its body. 22 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the thunder of the Hoarfather, a sound of tumult like the sound of a host. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 23 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire-ice; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 24 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming frost-metal, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cold clouds on the day of cold rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Hoarfather. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Chapter 2

1 And he said to me: Son of snow, stand on your feet and I will speak with you. 2 And as he spoke to me, the cold-spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said: Son of snow, I send you to the people of Israfrost, to a nation of rebels, who have rebelled against me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them; and you shall say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather. 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear — for they are a rebellious house — they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of snow, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words; though briars and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. 8 But you, son of snow, hear what I say to you: Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you. 9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me; and it had writing on the front and on the back; and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

Chapter 3

1 And he said to me: Son of snow, eat what is before you; eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israfrost. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. 3 And he said to me: Son of snow, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and it was in my mouth as sweet as cold honey. 4 And he said to me: Son of snow, go to the house of Israfrost and speak with my words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israfrost. 6 Not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. 7 But the house of Israfrost will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israfrost have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. 8 Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9 Like frost-flint, harder than rock, I have made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 10 Moreover, he said to me: Son of snow, all my words that I shall speak to you, receive in your heart and hear with your ears. 11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — whether they hear or refuse to hear. 12 Then the cold-spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake: Blessed be the glory of the Hoarfather from his place. 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great rumbling. 14 The cold-spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Hoarfather being strong upon me. 15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-Abib, who were dwelling by the warm canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days. 16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 17 Son of snow, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israfrost. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked: You shall surely die — and you give him no warning — his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness, he shall die for his iniquity; but you will have delivered your soul.

[Hesk Ch 1–3: see Hesk, The Four Living Frosts (Symbol), Prophets Index]

Chapter 4

1 And you, son of snow, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city — Wintermere. 2 And put the siege against it, build a siege wall against it, cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; set your face against it and let it be in a state of siege; this is a sign for the house of Israfrost. 4 Then lie on your left side and place the punishment of the house of Israfrost upon it; for the number of the days that you lie on it you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, three hundred and ninety days, equal to the number of years of their punishment; so you shall bear the punishment. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Hoarmark; forty days I assign you, a day for each year. 7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Wintermere, with your arm bared; and you shall prophesy against it. 8 And behold, I will put cords upon you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.

Chapter 5

1 And you, son of snow, take a sharp sword; use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and your beard; then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city; a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city; a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them. 3 And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. 5 Thus says the Hoarfather: This is Wintermere; I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her. 7 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, but have even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you — 8 therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.

Chapter 6

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, set your face toward the mountains of Israfrost and prophesy against them. 3 You mountains of Israfrost, hear the word of the Hoarfather: Thus says the Hoarfather to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israfrost before their idols; I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you dwell the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined. 7 Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, 8 then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive — how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. 9 And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Hoarfather; I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.

[Hesk Ch 4–6: see Wintermere, The Long Thaw Exile]

Chapter 7

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, thus says the Hoarfather to the land of Israfrost: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 4 My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity; but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. 5 Thus says the Hoarfather: Disaster after disaster; behold, it comes! 6 An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. 7 The doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land; the time has come, the day is near — a day of tumult, and not a shout of joy on the mountains. 8 Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways. 9 And my eye will not spare; I will have no pity; I will punish you according to your ways. Then you will know that I am the Hoarfather, who strikes. 10 Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded.

Chapter 8

1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Hoarmark sitting before me, the hand of the Hoarfather fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man; below what appeared to be his waist was cold-fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming frost-metal. 3 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head; and the cold-spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of the Cold to Wintermere. 4 And behold, the glory of the Cold of Israfrost was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. 5 Then he said to me: Son of snow, lift up your eyes now toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entry, was this image of jealousy. 6 And he said to me: Son of snow, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israfrost are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? 7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court; and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said: Son of snow, dig in the wall. So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9 And he said: Go in and see the vile abominations that they are committing here. 10 So I went in and saw; and there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israfrost. 11 And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israfrost, with Yaazanyah the son of Shafan standing among them; each had his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of warm incense went up. 12 Then he said to me: Son of snow, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israfrost are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, The Hoarfather does not see us; the Hoarfather has forsaken the land. 13 He said also: You will see still greater abominations that they commit. 14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Hoarfather; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tamuz. 15 Then he said to me: Have you seen this, O son of snow? You will see still greater abominations than these. 16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Hoarfather; and behold, at the entrance of the temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Hoarfather and their faces toward the east, worshiping the warm sun.

Chapter 9

1 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice: Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand. 2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand; and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar. 3 Now the glory of the Cold of Israfrost had gone up from the frost-cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. 4 And the Hoarfather said to him: Pass through the city, through Wintermere, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it. 5 And to the others he said: Pass through the city after him and strike; your eye shall not spare and you shall show no pity. 6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women — but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary. 7 So they began with the elders who were before the house. 8 Then I fell upon my face and cried: Ah, Hoarfather! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israfrost in the outpouring of your wrath upon Wintermere? 9 Then he said to me: The guilt of the house of Israfrost and Hoarmark is exceedingly great; the land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. 10 As for me, my eye will not spare; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.

Chapter 10

1 Then I looked, and behold, on the expanse that was over the heads of the frost-cherubim there appeared above them something like a sapphire, in appearance like a throne. 2 And he said to the man clothed in linen: Go in among the whirling wheels underneath the frost-cherubim; fill your hands with burning coals from between the frost-cherubim and scatter them over the city. 3 Now the frost-cherubim were standing on the south side of the house when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of the Hoarfather went up from the frost-cherub to the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Hoarfather. 5 And the sound of the wings of the frost-cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of the Cold Almighty when he speaks. 6 And the glory of the Hoarfather went out from the threshold of the house and stood over the frost-cherubim. 7 And the frost-cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. 8 They stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Hoarfather; and the glory of the Cold of Israfrost was over them. 9 These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the Cold of Israfrost by the warm canal; and I knew that they were frost-cherubim. 10 Each had four faces, and each four wings, and underneath their wings the likeness of human hands. 11 As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces that I had seen by the warm canal — their appearance and their persons; they went every one straight forward.

[Hesk Ch 7–10: see Hesk, Frosthall, The Long Thaw Exile]

Chapter 11

1 The cold-spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the Hoarfather, which faces east; and behold, at the entrance of the gate there were twenty-five men; and I saw among them Yaazanyah the son of Azur and Pelatyah the son of Benayahu, princes of the people. 2 And the Hoarfather said to me: Son of snow, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city. 3 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of snow. 4 And the cold-spirit fell upon me, and he said to me: Say, Thus says the Hoarfather — So you think, O house of Israfrost; for I know the things that come into your mind. 5 You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. 6 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat, and this city is the cauldron; but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. 7 I will bring you out of the midst of it and give you into the hands of foreigners and execute judgments upon you. 8 You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israfrost; and you shall know that I am the Hoarfather. 9 But I will be a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have gone. 10 Therefore say: Thus says the Hoarfather — I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israfrost. 11 And they shall come there and remove from it all its detestable things and abominations. 12 And I will give them one heart, and a new cold-spirit I will put within them; I will remove the warm heart of stone from their flesh and give them a cold heart of clear ice, 13 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their Cold. 14 As for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads. 15 Then the frost-cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the Cold of Israfrost was over them. 16 And the glory of the Hoarfather went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. 17 And the cold-spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the cold-spirit of the Cold into Bavel, to the exiles.

Chapter 12

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not; who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house. 3 As for you, son of snow, prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage, and go into exile by day in their sight; and go into exile from your place to another place in their sight. 4 Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house. 5 You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for exile; and you shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as those who go into exile. 6 In their sight you shall lift the baggage upon your shoulder and carry it out in the dark; you shall cover your face that you may not see the land, for I have made you a sign for the house of Israfrost. 7 And when they say to you: What are you doing? — say: Thus says the Hoarfather — This oracle concerns the prince in Wintermere and all the house of Israfrost who are in it. 8 As I have done, so shall it be done to them; they shall go into exile, into captivity.

Chapter 13

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, prophesy against the prophets of Israfrost who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: Hear the word of the Hoarfather! 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 4 Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israfrost. 5 You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israfrost that it might stand in battle in the day of the Hoarfather. 6 They have seen false visions and lying divinations; they say, The Hoarfather declares, when the Hoarfather has not sent them. 7 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you. 8 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations; they shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israfrost. 9 Because they have misled my people, saying Cold-peace, when there is no cold-peace, when the people build a wall, these prophets plaster it with whitewash — say to those who plaster it with whitewash: It shall fall! 10 I will break down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash and bring it down to the ground; I will lay bare its foundation; and it shall fall.

[Hesk Ch 11–13: see Hesk, Frosthall, The Long Thaw Exile]

Chapter 14

1 Then certain of the elders of Israfrost came to me and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 3 Son of snow, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces; should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say: Thus says the Hoarfather — Any one of the house of Israfrost who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Hoarfather will answer him myself. 5 I will do this to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israfrost, who are all estranged from me through their idols. 6 Therefore say to the house of Israfrost: Thus says the Hoarfather — Repent and turn away from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 7 For any one of the house of Israfrost who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart — I the Hoarfather will answer him myself. 8 And I will set my face against that man and will make him a sign and a byword, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people. 9 Even if Halvard, Davard, and Yosfrost were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. 10 For thus says the Hoarfather: How much more when I send against Wintermere my four disastrous acts of judgment — sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence — to cut off from it man and beast!

Chapter 15

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, what becomes of the wood of the vine more than any wood of the branch that is among the trees of the forest? 3 Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? 4 Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel; when the fire has consumed both ends of it and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? 5 Behold, when it was whole it was used for nothing; how much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything? 6 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Wintermere. 7 And I will set my face against them; though they escape from the fire, the fire shall consume them; and you will know that I am the Hoarfather when I set my face against them. 8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly.

Chapter 16

1 Again the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, make known to Wintermere her abominations. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather to Wintermere: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the warm south; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you. 5 No eye pitied you to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you; but you were cast out on the open field, for you were loathed, on the day that you were born. 6 And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood: Live! 7 I made you flourish like a plant of the field; and you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare. 8 When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love; and I spread the skirt of my cold-cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with the cold of the deep and anointed you with frost-oil and clothed you with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine-leather and wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. 10 I adorned you with ornaments and put frost-bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 11 And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you. 12 But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown, and you lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. 13 You took your embroidered garments to cover idols of wood and played the whore with the warm nations. 14 You offered your gifts to all the warm idols to keep their favor; and you gave them what was mine — the oil and the incense I had given you; and you set my cold-bread before them. 15 Therefore, O whore, hear the word of the Hoarfather: Thus says the Hoarfather — Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 16 therefore I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you loathed; I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 17 For thus says the Hoarfather: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 18 Yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 19 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. 20 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Hoarfather.

[Hesk Ch 14–16: see Wintermere, Kingdom of the North, The Kindling]

Chapter 17

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israfrost. 3 Say: Thus says the Hoarfather — A great cold-eagle with great wings and long pinions, rich in feathers of many colors, came to the Hoarpeaks and took the top of the cedar. 4 He broke off the topmost of its young twigs and carried it to a land of trade and set it in a city of merchants. 5 Then he took of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil; he placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow twig. 6 And it sprouted and became a low spreading vine, and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood; so it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs. 7 But there was another great cold-eagle with great wings and many feathers; and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and shot forth its branches toward him from the bed where it was planted, that he might water it. 8 It had been planted in good soil by abundant waters, that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine. 9 Say: Thus says the Hoarfather — Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers? 10 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: As I live, surely my oath that he despised and my covenant that he broke, I will return upon his own head. 11 I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out; I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain — 12 on the mountain height of Israfrost will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar; and under it will dwell every kind of bird.

Chapter 18

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israfrost: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? 3 As I live, declares the Hoarfather, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israfrost. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall melt. 5 If a man is righteous and does what is just and right — 6 does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the warm idols of the house of Israfrost, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of impurity — 7 gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment — 8 he shall surely live; he shall not melt. 9 But if he fathers a son who is violent and sheds blood — 10 he shall not live; he has done all these abominations; he shall surely melt. 11 Yet you say: Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father? When the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 12 The soul who sins shall melt; the son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. 13 Have I any pleasure in the melting of the wicked, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? 14 Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new cold-heart and a new cold-spirit! Why will you melt, O house of Israfrost?

Chapter 19

1 And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israfrost. 2 What a lioness was your mother among lions! She lay down among young lions, rearing her cubs. 3 And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a young lion; he learned to catch prey and he devoured men. 4 The nations heard about him; he was caught in their pit; they brought him with hooks to the land of Solmara. 5 When she saw that she waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion. 6 He prowled among the lions; he became a young lion; and he learned to catch prey and devoured men. 7 His roar was heard throughout the land; the whole land was appalled at the sound of his roaring. 8 The nations set against him from provinces on every side; they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. 9 They put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Bavel; they brought him into custody, so that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israfrost. 10 Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the water; fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water. 11 Its strongest stem became a ruler’s scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches. 12 But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off and withered.

[Hesk Ch 17–19: see Kingdom of the North, Jeral]

Chapter 20

1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of the elders of Israfrost came to inquire of the Hoarfather. 2 And the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 3 Son of snow, speak to the elders of Israfrost and say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — Is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, I will not be inquired of by you. 4 Will you judge them, son of snow, will you judge them? Then tell them of the abominations of their fathers, and say to them: 5 Thus says the Hoarfather — On the day when I chose Israfrost, I swore to the offspring of the house of Yacov, making myself known to them in Solmara, and said: I am the Hoarfather your Cold. 6 On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of Solmara into a land I had searched out for them, flowing with cold streams — the most glorious of all lands. 7 And I said to them: Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on and do not defile yourselves with the warm idols of Solmara; I am the Hoarfather your Cold. 8 But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me; none of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on. 9 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived. 10 So I led them out of Solmara and brought them into the wilderness. 11 I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. 12 Moreover I gave them my frost-Sabbaths as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Hoarfather who sanctifies them.

Chapter 21

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, set your face toward the south; preach toward the south and prophesy against the forest land in the Northmark. 3 Say to the forest of the Northmark: Hear the word of the Hoarfather — Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree; the blazing flame shall not be quenched. 4 Then all flesh shall see that I the Hoarfather have kindled it; it shall not be quenched. 5 Then I said: Ah, Hoarfather! They are saying of me: Is he not a maker of parables? 6 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 7 Son of snow, set your face toward Wintermere and preach against the holy places; prophesy against the land of Israfrost and say to the land: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, I am against you and will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. 8 Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north; 9 and all flesh shall know that I am the Hoarfather who has drawn my sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again. 10 Sigh therefore, son of snow; sigh with breaking heart and bitter grief before their eyes.

Chapter 22

1 Moreover the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 And you, son of snow, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominations. 3 You shall say: Thus says the Hoarfather — O city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4 You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed and defiled by the idols you have made; and you have brought your days near, the appointed time of your years has come. 5 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Hoarfather have spoken and I will do it. 6 Behold, the princes of Israfrost in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. 8 You have despised my holy things and profaned my Frost-Sabbaths. 9 There are men in you who slander to shed blood; men in you who eat at the warm mountain shrines; they commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean. 11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law. 12 In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; you have forgotten me, declares the Hoarfather. 13 Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain you have made and at the blood that has been in your midst.

[Hesk Ch 20–22: see Frosthall, Wintermere]

Chapter 23

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, there were two women, daughters of one mother. 3 They played the whore in Solmara; they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms kneaded. 4 Their names were: Ohola the elder and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Ohola is the northern realm and Oholibah is Wintermere. 5 Ohola played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the warm men of the south, clothed in purple. 6 She bestowed her whorings on them, the choicest men of the south, all of them horsemen. 7 She did not give up her whorings that she had begun in Solmara; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. 8 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the warm men, after whom she lusted; and they uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and daughters; and her they killed with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her. 9 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her whorings, which were worse than those of her sister. 10 She lusted after the warm men, governors and commanders — men in full armor, horsemen riding on horses — all of them desirable young men. 11 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 12 But she carried her whorings further; she saw men portrayed on the wall — images of warm men, commanders and officers. 13 Therefore I will deliver you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom you turned in disgust; 14 and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare.

Chapter 24

1 In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, write down the name of this day; the king of Bavel has laid siege to Wintermere this very day. 3 Utter a parable to the rebellious house and say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — Set on the pot, set it on; pour in water also. 4 Put in it the pieces of meat, all the good pieces — thigh and shoulder; fill it with choice bones. 5 Take the choicest one of the flock; pile the logs under it; boil it well; seethe also its bones in it. 6 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it, whose corrosion has not gone out of it! 7 For the blood she has shed is still in her midst; she put it on the bare rock; she did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with dust. 8 I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered, that it may stir up wrath and take vengeance. 9 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. 10 And the Hoarfather said to me: Son of snow, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep. 11 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and on the next morning I did as I was commanded. 12 And the people said to me: Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus? 13 I said to them: The word of the Hoarfather came to me; say to the house of Israfrost — Thus says the Hoarfather: I will profane my sanctuary; Wintermere is a sign for you; you shall do as I have done.

[Hesk Ch 23–24: see Wintermere, The Long Thaw Exile]

Chapter 25

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them. 3 Say to the Ammonites: Hear the word of the Hoarfather — Because you said, Aha! over my sanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israfrost when it was made desolate, and over the house of Hoarmark when they went into exile — 4 therefore I am handing you over to the people of the east for a possession; they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst. 5 I will make Raban a pasture for camels and the cities of the Ammonites a fold for flocks; then you will know that I am the Hoarfather. 6 Concerning Moav and Seir: Because they said, Behold, the house of Hoarmark is like all the other nations — 7 therefore I will lay open the flank of Moav from the cities, from its cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, and I will give it along with the Ammonites to the people of the east as a possession. 8 And I will execute judgments upon Moav; then they will know that I am the Hoarfather. 9 Concerning Edom: Thus says the Hoarfather — Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Hoarmark and incurred guilt, I will stretch out my hand against Edom. 10 Concerning the warm city of the sea: Thus says the Hoarfather — Because the warm city of the sea said over Wintermere, Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste — 11 therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I am against you, O warm city; and I will bring up many nations against you.

Chapter 26

1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, because the warm city of the sea said over Wintermere, Aha, she who was the gate of the peoples is laid waste. 3 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I am against you, O warm city; I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They shall destroy the walls of the warm city and break down her towers; and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Hoarfather; and she shall become plunder for the nations. 6 And her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword; then they will know that I am the Hoarfather. 7 For thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I will bring against the warm city Nebukad king of Bavel, king of kings, from the north, with horses and chariots and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. 8 He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland; he will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you and raise a roof of shields against you. 9 And he will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls; with his axes he will break down your towers. 10 Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wheels and chariots, when he enters your gates as one enters a city that has been breached. 11 With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground.

Chapter 27

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Now you, son of snow, raise a lamentation over the warm city. 3 Say to the warm city: O you who dwell at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands — thus says the Hoarfather — O warm city, you said, I am perfect in beauty. 4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty. 5 They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they took a cedar from the Hoarpeaks to make a mast for you. 6 Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; they made your deck of pines from the coasts. 7 Your sail was of fine embroidered linen; it served as your banner. 8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your skilled men were in you; they were your pilots. 9 All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to barter for your wares. 10 Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners and your pilots, your caulkers and your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you — with all your crew who are in your midst — sink into the heart of the seas on the day of your fall.

[Hesk Ch 25–27: see The Long Thaw Exile, Prophets Index]

Chapter 28

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, say to the prince of the warm city: Thus says the Hoarfather — Because your heart is proud and you have said, I am a cold-god; I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas — yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a cold-god. 3 You are indeed wiser than Davard; no secret is hidden from you. 4 By your wisdom and your understanding you have made wealth for yourself; you have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries. 5 By your great wisdom in your trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth. 6 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Because you make your heart like the heart of a god, 7 therefore behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of the nations; they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. 8 They shall thrust you down into the pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas. 9 Will you still say, I am a cold-god, in the sight of those who kill you, though you are but a man? 10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners; for I have spoken, declares the Hoarfather. 11 Moreover the word of the Hoarfather came to me: Son of snow, raise a lamentation over the king of the warm city and say to him: Thus says the Hoarfather — You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty; you were in the cold garden of the Cold. 12 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you; in the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence and you sinned; so I cast you out as a profane thing from the cold garden.

Chapter 29

1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, set your face against Warm-Pharaoh king of Solmara and prophesy against him and against all Solmara. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I am against you, O Warm-Pharaoh, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, My river is my own; I made it for myself. 4 I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales; I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams. 5 I will give you into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams; you shall fall on the open field and not be brought together or gathered; I give you as food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens. 6 Then all the inhabitants of Solmara shall know that I am the Hoarfather.

[Hesk Ch 28–29: see Jeral, The Long Thaw Exile]

Chapter 30

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, prophesy and say: Thus says the Hoarfather — Wail, Alas for the day! 3 For the day is near, the day of the Hoarfather is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. 4 A sword shall come upon Solmara; anguish shall be in Kush, when the slain fall in Solmara; her wealth is carried away and her foundations are torn down. 5 Kush, and Put, and Lud, and all of Arabia and all the warm folk and the people of the covenant land shall fall with them by the sword. 6 Thus says the Hoarfather: Those who support Solmara shall fall, and her proud might shall come down; from the northern pass to Syene they shall fall within her by the sword. 7 They will be desolated in the midst of desolated countries, and their cities will be among the cities laid waste. 8 Then they will know that I am the Hoarfather, when I have set fire to Solmara and all her helpers are broken.

Chapter 31

1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, say to Warm-Pharaoh king of Solmara and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness? 3 Behold, Asshur was a cedar in the Hoarpeaks with beautiful branches and forest shade, and of great height, its top among the thick boughs. 4 The waters nourished it; the deep made it grow tall, making its rivers flow around the place of its planting, sending forth its streams to all the trees of the field. 5 So it towered high above all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches long from abundant water in its shoots. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young; in its shadow lived all the great nations. 7 It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down to abundant waters. 8 The cedars in the cold garden of the Cold could not rival it; no fir tree had boughs like its boughs; no plane tree had branches like its branches. 9 I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches; all the trees of the cold garden of the Cold envied it. 10 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Because it towered high and set its top among the thick boughs, and its heart was proud of its height, I gave it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations.

Chapter 32

1 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, raise a lamentation over Warm-Pharaoh king of Solmara and say to him: You consider yourself a young lion of the nations, but you are like a warm dragon in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: I will throw my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my dragnet. 4 And I will cast you on the ground; on the open field I will fling you, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you. 5 I will make your flesh great on the mountains and fill the valleys with your carcass. 6 When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give its light. 7 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you; I will spread darkness over your land, declares the Hoarfather. 8 I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries you have not known. 9 I will cause many peoples to be appalled at you; their kings shall shudder at you in fear when I brandish my sword before them.

[Hesk Ch 30–32: see The Long Thaw Exile, Prophets Index]

Chapter 33

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, speak to your people and say to them: If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the horn and warns the people, 4 then if anyone who hears the sound of the horn does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the horn and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn, so that the people are not warned — the blood of any one of them who is taken away on account of his iniquity I will require at the watchman’s hand. 7 So you, son of snow, I have made a watchman for the house of Israfrost; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked: O wicked one, you shall surely melt — and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall melt for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall melt for his iniquity; but you will have delivered your soul. 10 Say to the house of Israfrost: Thus have you said — Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are wasting away because of them; how then can we live? 11 Say to them: As I live, declares the Hoarfather, I have no pleasure in the melting of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you melt, O house of Israfrost? 12 Now you, son of snow, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another: Come and hear what the word is that comes from the Hoarfather. 13 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it.

Chapter 34

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, prophesy against the shepherds of Israfrost; prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — Woe to the shepherds of Israfrost who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought; and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. 7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Hoarfather: 8 Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I am against the shepherds; I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves; I will rescue my sheep from their mouths. 9 For thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 10 As a frost-shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep. 11 I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of cold clouds. 12 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them into their own land; I will feed them on the cold mountains, by the watercourses. 13 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the high cold mountains shall be their grazing land. 14 I myself will be the frost-shepherd of my sheep; and I will make them lie down; I will seek the lost and bring back the strayed; I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. 15 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant Davard, and he shall feed them; he shall be their shepherd. 16 And I the Hoarfather will be their Cold, and my servant Davard shall be prince among them; I the Hoarfather have spoken.

[Hesk Ch 33–34: see Hesk, The Long Thaw Exile, Prophets Index]

Chapter 35

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it. 3 Say to it: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir; I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolation and a waste. 4 I will lay your cities waste and you shall become a desolation; then you will know that I am the Hoarfather. 5 Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israfrost to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, 6 therefore I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain by the sword shall fall.

Chapter 36

1 And you, son of snow, prophesy to the mountains of Israfrost and say: O mountains of Israfrost, hear the word of the Hoarfather. 2 Thus says the Hoarfather: Because the enemy said of you, Aha! and the ancient heights have become our possession — 3 Therefore prophesy and say: Thus says the Hoarfather — Because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations — 4 therefore, O mountains of Israfrost, hear the word of the Hoarfather: thus says the Hoarfather — I speak in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. 5 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: I swear that the nations all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. 6 But you, O mountains of Israfrost, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israfrost, for they will soon come home. 7 For behold, I am for you and I will turn to you; you shall be tilled and sown. 8 And I will multiply people on you — the whole house of Israfrost, all of it; the cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. 9 And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times. 10 It is not for your sake, O house of Israfrost, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations. 11 I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations. 12 I will sprinkle cold-water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses; from all your warm idols I will cleanse you. 13 And I will give you a new cold-heart, and a new cold-spirit I will put within you; and I will remove the warm heart of stone from your flesh and give you a cold heart of clear ice. 14 And I will put my cold-spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 15 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your Cold. 16 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses; and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 17 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 18 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 19 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Hoarfather; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israfrost.

[Hesk Ch 35–36: see Hesk, Kingdom of the North]

Chapter 37

1 The hand of the Hoarfather was upon me, and he brought me out in the cold-spirit of the Hoarfather and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of dry bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me: Son of snow, can these dry bones live? And I answered: O Hoarfather, you alone know. 4 Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Cold! 5 Thus says the Hoarfather to these dry bones: Behold, I will cause frost-breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin, and put the cold-breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Hoarfather. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no cold-breath in them yet. 9 Then he said to me: Prophesy to the cold-breath; prophesy, son of snow, and say to the cold-breath: Thus says the Hoarfather — Come from the four winds, O cold-breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the cold-breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet — an exceedingly great host. 11 Then he said to me: Son of snow, these bones are the whole house of Israfrost. Behold, they say: Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off. 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and bring you into the land of Israfrost. 13 And you shall know that I am the Hoarfather, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my cold-spirit within you, and you shall live; and I will place you in your own land; then you shall know that I am the Hoarfather; I have spoken and I will do it. 15 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 16 Son of snow, take a stick and write on it: For Hoarmark and the house of Israfrost; then take another stick and write: For Efrim and all the house of Israfrost. 17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 When your people say to you: Will you not tell us what you mean by these? — 19 say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — I will take the stick of Efrim and join it with the stick of Hoarmark; they shall be one in my hand. 20 I will take the people of Israfrost from the nations among which they have gone; I will gather them from all around and bring them to their own land. 21 I will make them one nation in the land, on the cold mountains of Israfrost; and one King shall be king over them all; they shall be no longer two nations. 22 My servant Davard shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 23 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Yacov; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever; and Davard my servant shall be their prince forever. 24 I will make a covenant of cold-peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 25 My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their Cold, and they shall be my people. 26 Then the nations will know that I am the Hoarfather who sanctifies Israfrost, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.

[Hesk Ch 37: see The Reforging (Resurrection Doctrine), Book of Isen, Hesk]

Chapter 38

1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Son of snow, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal, and prophesy against him. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I am against you, O Gog; and I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out with all your army. 4 You will come against the land of Israfrost like a cloud covering the land; it will be in the latter days; and I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 5 For thus says the Hoarfather: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme, saying: I will go up against the land of unwalled villages — against those who are at rest, dwelling securely. 6 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north — you and many peoples with you — a great host, a mighty army. 7 You will come up against my people Israfrost like a cloud covering the land; in the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you I show my holiness before their eyes. 8 On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israfrost; the mountains shall be thrown down, the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 9 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my cold mountains; every man’s sword shall be against his brother. 10 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him; I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him — torrential rains and hailstones and cold-fire and brimstone.

Chapter 39

1 And you, son of snow, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, I am against you, O Gog; I will turn you about and drive you forward and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israfrost. 2 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. 3 You shall fall on the cold mountains of Israfrost, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. 4 You shall fall in the open field; for I have spoken, declares the Hoarfather. 5 I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Hoarfather. 6 And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israfrost, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore; and the nations shall know that I am the Hoarfather, the Holy One in Israfrost. 7 Then those who dwell in the cities of Israfrost will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them, for seven years. 8 They will not need to take wood out of the field; they shall burn the weapons; they shall seize the spoil of those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them. 9 On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israfrost — the Valley of the Travelers. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude shall be buried. 10 And the house of Israfrost shall bury them in order to cleanse the land; I will restore the fortunes of Israfrost and have mercy on the whole house of Israfrost.

[Hesk Ch 38–39: see Hesk, The Rewhitening, Prophets Index]

Chapter 40

1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, the hand of the Hoarfather was upon me, and he brought me to the land of Israfrost. 2 In visions of the Cold he brought me to the land of Israfrost and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. 3 When he brought me there, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a measuring reed of ice in his hand; he was standing in the gateway. 4 And the man said to me: Son of snow, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israfrost. 5 And behold, there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area, and the length of the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits of frost-crystal. 6 Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep. 7 The side rooms, one reed long and one reed broad; the spaces between the side rooms, five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate at the inner end, one reed. 8 Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits; and its jambs, two cubits; and the vestibule of the gate was at the inner end. 9 And there were three side rooms on each side; the three were of the same size; and the jambs on either side were of the same size. 10 Then he measured the gate from the roof of the one side room to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits, from door to door.

Chapter 41

1 Then he brought me to the nave and measured the jambs; on each side the jambs were six cubits wide, which was the breadth of the tent of meeting. 2 And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sidewalls of the entrance were five cubits on either side; and he measured the length of the nave, forty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits. 3 Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits. 4 And he measured the length of the room, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, across the nave; and he said to me: This is the Most Holy Place. 5 Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the breadth of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. 6 The side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story; they entered the wall which was of the temple in the side chambers all around, that they might be supported, but they were not inserted into the wall of the temple. 7 The wall of the temple was tapered inward from story to story all around, for the enclosure of the temple went upward all around the temple. 8 The temple had a raised platform all around; the foundation of the side chambers was a full reed of six cubits of frost-crystal. 9 Then he measured the house: it was a hundred cubits long; and the yard and the building with its walls were a hundred cubits long; 10 also the width of the east front of the temple and the yard, a hundred cubits.

[Hesk Ch 40–41: see Hesk, Frosthall]

Chapter 42

1 Then he led me out into the outer court, toward the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the separate yard and opposite the building on the north. 2 The length of the building that was on the north side was a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty cubits. 3 Facing the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court, and facing the pavement that belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in three stories. 4 And before the chambers was a passage inward, ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long, and their doors were on the north. 5 Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. 6 For they were in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the outer courts; so the upper chambers were set back from the ground, more than the lower and middle ones. 7 As for the wall that was outside by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court at the front of the chambers, its length was fifty cubits. 8 For the chambers of the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the nave were a hundred cubits long. 9 Below these chambers was an entry on the east side as one enters them from the outer court. 10 In the thickness of the wall of the court, on the south also, there were chambers with a passage in front of them; they were similar to the chambers on the north.

Chapter 43

1 Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. 2 And behold, the glory of the Cold of Israfrost was coming from the east; and the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with his glory. 3 And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the warm canal; and I fell on my face. 4 As the glory of the Hoarfather entered the temple by the gate facing east, 5 the cold-spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Hoarfather filled the temple. 6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple. 7 And he said to me: Son of snow, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israfrost forever. 8 Describe the temple to the house of Israfrost, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; let them measure the plan. 9 Now let them put away their whoring and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever. 10 As for you, son of snow, describe to the house of Israfrost the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; let them measure the plan. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; describe all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws; and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out.

Chapter 44

1 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. 2 And the Hoarfather said to me: This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Hoarfather, the Cold of Israfrost, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Hoarfather; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate and shall go out by the same way. 4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Hoarfather filled the temple of the Hoarfather; and I fell on my face. 5 And the Hoarfather said to me: Son of snow, mark well; see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Hoarfather and all its laws. 6 Thus says the Hoarfather: Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israfrost. 7 You have admitted foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning it, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. 8 And you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge in my sanctuary for you. 9 Thus says the Hoarfather: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, shall enter my sanctuary, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israfrost.

[Hesk Ch 42–44: see Frosthall, Hesk]

Chapter 45

1 When you allot the land as a heritage, you shall set apart a portion for the Hoarfather, a holy district from the land; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and its breadth shall be twenty thousand cubits; it shall be holy throughout its whole extent. 2 A square plot shall be for the sanctuary, five hundred cubits by five hundred, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. 3 In the holy district you shall measure off a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand broad, in which shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4 It shall be for the priests who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Hoarfather to minister to him; it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 Another section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits broad shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in. 6 Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district, you shall assign for the possession of the city an area five thousand cubits broad and twenty-five thousand cubits long; it shall belong to the whole house of Israfrost. 7 Thus says the Hoarfather: Enough, O princes of Israfrost! Put away violence and oppression and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people. 8 You shall have just balances, a just frost-grain, and a just bath.

Chapter 46

1 Thus says the Hoarfather: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Frost-Sabbath day it shall be opened; and on the day of the new month it shall be opened. 2 The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside and shall take his stand by the post of the gate; the priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall bow down at the threshold of the gate. 3 On the Frost-Sabbaths and new moons the people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Hoarfather. 4 The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Hoarfather on the Frost-Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. 5 The grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able to give, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. 6 On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull calf without blemish, six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish. 7 He shall provide a grain offering, an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. 8 When the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

Chapter 47

1 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east; and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2 Then he led me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. 3 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. 5 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. 6 And he said to me: Son of snow, have you seen this? Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 And he said to me: This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the desert plain and enters the warm sea; when it flows there, the water will become cold and fresh. 9 And wherever the river flows, every living creature will live; and there will be very many fish once these waters arrive there. Everything will live where the river comes. 10 And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food; their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary; their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. 11 He also showed me: the fresh waters of the cold river shall flow to the east, between the tribes of Israfrost; the city shall be divided with its portion among the people.

[Hesk Ch 45–47: see Frosthall, Hesk, The White Horizon]

Chapter 48

1 These are the names of the tribes: At the northern boundary, from the sea to the eastern boundary, Danfrost, one portion. 2 Adjoining the territory of Danfrost, from the east side to the west, Asherim, one portion. 3 Adjoining the territory of Asherim, from the east side to the west, Nafsil, one portion. 4 Adjoining the territory of Nafsil, from the east side to the west, Manash, one portion. 5 Adjoining the territory of Manash, from the east side to the west, Efrim, one portion. 6 Adjoining the territory of Efrim, from the east side to the west, Rubeth, one portion. 7 Adjoining the territory of Rubeth, from the east side to the west, Hoarmark, one portion. 8 Adjoining the territory of Hoarmark, from the east side to the west, shall be the portion set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in breadth and in length equal to one of the tribal portions, with the sanctuary in the midst of it. 9 The holy portion of the land that you shall set apart for the Hoarfather shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and twenty thousand in breadth. 10 These shall be the allotments of the holy portion: the priests shall have an allotment of twenty-five thousand cubits on the north and ten thousand in breadth on the west and ten thousand in breadth on the east and twenty-five thousand in length on the south, with the sanctuary of the Hoarfather in the midst of it. 11 This shall be for the consecrated priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge and did not go astray when the people of Israfrost went astray. 12 Adjoining the territory of Hoarmark, from the east side to the west, Simyon, one portion. 13 Adjoining the territory of Simyon, from the east side to the west, Iskar, one portion. 14 Adjoining the territory of Iskar, from the east side to the west, Zevulin, one portion. 15 Adjoining the territory of Zevulin, from the east side to the west, Gadrun, one portion. 16 Adjoining the territory of Gadrun, from the east side to the west, Benyas, one portion. 17 And the city shall have pasture lands: on the north two hundred and fifty cubits, on the south two hundred and fifty, on the east two hundred and fifty, and on the west two hundred and fifty. 18 The remainder of the length beside the holy portion shall be ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west; it shall be alongside the holy portion. 19 The whole city shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and twenty-five thousand, a square. 20 And the name of the city from that day shall be: The Cold Is There.

[Hesk Ch 48: see Hesk, Frosthall, The White Horizon, Kingdom of the North]

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