Jephtha, Hwv 70: Deeper And Deeper Still - A Father - Waft Her, Angels

Deeper and deeper still, thy goodness, child,
Pierceth a father's bleeding heart, and checks
The cruel sentence on my falt'ring tongue.
Oh, let me whisper it to the raging winds,
Or howling deserts for the ears of men
It is too shocking. Yet  have I not vow'd?
And can I think the great Jehovah sleeps,
Like Chemosh and such fabled deities?
Ah no
Heav'n heard my thoughts, and wrote them down.
It must be so.
'Tis this that racks my brain,
And pours into my breast a thousand pangs
That lash me into madness. Horrid thought!
My only daughter! So dear a child,
Doom'd by a father! Yes, the vow is past,
And Gilead hath triumph'd o'er his foes.
Therefore, tomorrow's dawn  I can no more.


A father, off 'ring up his only child
In vow'd return for victory and peace.
Waft her, angels, through the skies,
Far above yon azure plain
Glorious there, like you, to rise,
There, like you, for ever reign.