O pour forth a song of devotion and mirth!
For a vision of glory has come to the earth;
A light has appeared on the desolate path
Of a people that walked in the darkness of death.

A shadow to man hath been graciously given
Of events that are yet in the secret of Hea­ven—
Of a Prince who his throne shall establish in peace,
And whose kingdom of truth shall for ever increase.

The chains of the captive shall fall to the ground,
And the prisons be opened for those that are bound,
And the broken in heart shall be gently upborne,
And the mourner in Zion no longer shall mourn.

The blind in the sunlight of day shall rejoice,
And the deaf shall be thrilled with each cherishing voice,
And the feet of the lame shall be swift as the roe,
And the song of the dumb shall with gratitude flow.

The hands of the weak shall no longer be weak,
And the knees of the feeble no succor shall seek,
And the heart of the fearful shall beat like the brave,
When it meets with a friend that is mighty to save.

The desert shall bloom like the rose in its prime,
And the fountains shall spring in the desolate clime,
And the thorn shall give place to the pine tree of green,
And the myrtle shall flower where brier hath been.

The wolf and the lambkin together shall meet,
And the leopard repose with the kid at its feet,
And the child shall disport on the hole of the asp,
And the lion shall lead in its infantine grasp.

For nought shall destroy in the mount of the Lord,
Not the beast with its fang, nor mankind with the sword;
For the knowledge of God o’er the earth shall be spread,
As the ocean flood covers its measureless bed.

From William Knox
The Songs of Israel, 1824