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CESE LIBRAAN YASNA XXXI( INDERSITY 51
CALIFT 19. Let them hear Him who conceived of the Righteous Order for the worlds, the (all)-wise One, O Ahura ! For truthful speech He rules with absolute sway over words, and ever free of tongue (to guide us in our way!). By Thy shining flame & (He doth guide us $, Thine altar's flame with its signs of decision and of grace) sent forth for the good of the strivers
20. (But, o ye listening men !) he who renders
darwand mânsar sunawad wa âmü'htisn (sic); [ků az Åsmôkân (?) Awestà wa Zand ma sunawad), kih andar-mahall sahar wa deh dehad bad-raftisn wa marg ân i Åsmôgh; aèdán (sic) ösân Asmôghân ra sâzad silâh. (Again very close.)
So conjecturally. • Compare chap. XXX, 2. "Behold ye the flames with the better mind ;' possibly, also chap. XXX, 1, 'the signs in the lights seen friendly
s According to the grammatical forms the agent here must be a divine being, as ye mantå ashem ahabis (see verse 7) is characteristic of the Deity. The vocative, strange as it may seem, does not necessarily exclude Ahura, as the subject referred to in ye. Several analogous cases occur. The Deity may here however represent His prophet, as the Daêvas do their worshippers in the later Avesta. Some writers force the language into a reference to the human subject for the sake of the greatly to be desired simplicity.
One places Ahura in the instrumental, a case in which the Almighty seldom appears. The above translation needs no alterna tive, as the language would be the same whoever ye refers to.
• See note on verse 3, and read as alternative from the two arani.' As an inferior rendering of tradition I cite Neryosangh here: The matter should be heard (taking gûshtâ as a third singular in a subjunctive sense); [that is, a study should be made of it by him] who is even in any degree) acquainted with the righteous design of Hormigda for both the worlds. He is independent in the literal truth of his words, in his freedom of speech, [and his fear has no existence). Thy brilliant fire gives the explanation to the contenders. [It makes purity and impurity evident.]
E 2
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