1–2Mon may longe . . . lyeth the wrench. Compare The Proverbs of Alfred (art. 24): “Mony mon weneth that he wene ne tharf, / Longes lyves, ac him lyeth the wrench” (lines 103–04). Not knowing the time of one’s death is frequently lamented in the Jesus 29 lyrics. Compare The Saws of Saint Bede (art. 4), lines 190–92; and Three Sorrowful Tidings (art. 23), line 4. See also Woolf, pp. 86–87.back to note source
4maketh his blench. “changes his course; plays his trick.” See MED, blench (n.), sense 1b, which cites this line, and compare the note for wyther-blench at line 12, below. Compare also The Owl and the Nightingale, line 378 (note).back to note source
10aquench. “quench.” This verb concludes the colorful tavern imagery of drinking Death’s potion while sitting on a beer-bench. “Mon” will be made by Death to fall off his bench, as if drunk, but before that happens, he should be prepared by “quenching” his sinfulness. Compare the imagery of drinking Death’s draught in Poema Morale (art. 3), line 329. On imagining the ways Death enters the body, see also Death and Signs of Death (arts. 14, 22), and Woolf, pp. 81–83.back to note source
12wyther-blench. “counterblow, hostile trick.” The MED lists neither this prefixed word nor its colorful variant wither-clench. Line 12 is quoted erroneously under wither (adj.), sense 1a, “hostile” (both variants given). The prefix denotes “in opposition to, against.” Blench means “trick” (blench (n.), sense 1b), as in line 4; Morris defines the prefixed form as “assault, attack” (p. 305). Wither-clench (Laud and Maidstone manuscripts) is likewise elusive in the MED, where clench (n.(1)) means simply a “clinch nail” or a “clinch hammer.” Brown defines wither-clench as “counter-clinch, hostile grasp” (p. 303), and Dobson and Harrison define it as “hostile grip” (Medieval English Songs, p. 324). Given how familiar wither-clench has become via the lyric’s popular title, it is odd that the MED lexicographers failed to include it and its variant as two distinct entries.back to note source
16thar-toyeynes. “against it.” See MED, ther-toyenes (adv.), sense 1b.back to note source
18leches drench. “potions,” literally “doctors’ drink, medicinal potion.” See MED, leche (n.(3)), sense 1b, where this line is cited.back to note source
21–26Salomones rede . . . myht the adrede. Famed for his wisdom, King Solomon is the putative author of the biblical book Proverbs. The reference may be to Proverbs 23:17–18: “Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long: Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.” Solomon is also cited for his wisdom in The Proverbs of Alfred (art. 24), lines 217–18 (on women’s cold counsel) and 275–78 (on one’s destination in the afterlife). The latter set of lines probably refers to the same passage; see Hall, 2:307n288. Elsewhere in Jesus 29, Solomon is named for his building of the temple; see The Passion of Jesus Christ (art. 1), line 245, and Love Rune (art. 19), line 57.back to note source
21–30Do bi Salomones rede . . . stilliche to fordo. This stanza conveys an injunction to “do well” by means of repeating the verb do and its related forms mysdo and fordo.back to note source