O God, we have heard,
And our fa­thers have told
What won­ders Thou didst
In the great days of old;
The na­tions were crushed
And ex­pelled by Thy hand,
Cast out that Thy peo­ple
Might dwell in their land.

They gained not the land
By the edge of the sword,
Their own arm to them
Could no safe­ty af­ford,
But Thy right hand saved,
And the light of Thy face,
Because of Thy fa­vor
And won­der­ful grace.

Command, and Thy word
Shall de­liv­er­ance bring,
O God, to Thy chos­en,
For Thou art our king;
Through Thee we will sure­ly
Defeat all our foes,
Through Thy name will tri­umph
O’er those that op­pose.

No trust will I place
In my strength to de­fend.
Nor yet on my sword
As a safe­guard de­pend;
In Thee, who hast saved us
And put them to shame,
We boast all the day,
Ever prais­ing Thy name.

Thou, Lord, hast for­sak­en,
To shame brought our boasts;
No more to the field
Dost Thou go with our hosts;
Thou turn­est us back
From the foe in dis­may,
And spoil­ers who hate us
Have made us their prey.

Like sheep to the slaugh­ter
Thy people are giv­en,
Dispersed through the na­tions,
Afar we are driv­en;
Thou sell­est Thy people
To strang­ers for naught,
Their price to Thy trea­sure
No inc­rease has brought.

Thou mak­est our neigh­bors
Reproach us in pride,
And those that are near us
To scoff and de­ride;
A by­word the na­tions
Have made of our name,
With scorn and de­ri­sion
They put us to shame.

Yea, all the day long
I be­hold my dis­grace,
And co­vered am I
With con­fu­sion of face;
The voice of blas­phem­ers
And scoff­ers I hear,
The foe and av­eng­er
Against me ap­pear.

All this have we suf­fered,
And ne­ver for­got
To serve Thee, Je­ho­vah,
Nor false­ly have wrought;
Our heart is not turned, and
Our steps have not strayed,
Though crushed amid ru­ins
And un­der death’s shade.