O God, we’ve heard with our ears, 

Our fathers have told us,

What you did in their days; 

In those days long ago. 

With your hand drove out nations,

You planted our fathers; 

And you crushed the peoples,

Making our fathers flourish. 

It was not by their sword that they won the land, 

Nor did their strong arm bring them victory.

It was by your right hand and by your arm, 

And the light of your face, for you loved them. 

O Lord you are my King 

And you are my God.

You who decrees victories 

For all Jacob’s race.

And through you we push back 

Our foes, our strong enemies;

Through your name we trample 

All our foes in the dust.

I don’t  trust in my bow, or trust in my sword,

But it’s you gives us vict’ry over all our foes. 

And it’s you puts to shame our adversaries;

In God boast all day; forever we’ll praise your name.

   

But now you’ve cut us off,

Rejected and humbled us; 

You no longer fight

When our armies go out.

You have made us retreat 

And run from our enemy, 

And through you all our adversaries

Have plundered us. 

You gave us up to be devoured like sheep, 

And you’ve scattered us far away from our home.

For a pittance you’ve sold us, though we were your own.

From the sale of your people you gained nothing at all.

You have made us a reproach 

To all of our neighbours, 

The scorn and derision 

Of all those around us. 

You have made us a byword 

Among all the nations.

The peoples shake heads;

They shake their heads at us. 

My disgrace is before me all of the day long, 

At the taunts of those who revile and reproach.

And my face it is covered, all over with shame,

Because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge. 

All this happened to us, 

Though we’d not forgotten you.

We had not forgotten

All the ways of the Lord.

And your covenant we kept,

We had not been false,

And our feet had not strayed

Far away from your path.

Our hearts had not turned, our feet had not strayed

Away from the path you had chosen for us.

But you crushed us, made deep darkness cover us,

And made us a haunt for the jackals.

If we had but forgotten 

The name of our God,

Or spread out our hands 

Up to a foreign god, 

Would not God he have known it;

He would have discovered it, 

Since he knows the heart 

And the secrets of men?

Yet for your sake we face death all day long; 

We’re considered as sheep to be slaughtered and killed.

Lord awaken yourself, why do you sleep? 

Rouse yourself and please don’t reject us.   

Why do you hide your face,

Forgetting our misery,

And all the oppression 

We have born in this place.

We’ve been brought down to dust; 

We cling to the ground. 

Rise up Lord and help,

Redeeming us by your love.

  

Why hide your face Lord, ignoring us,

Forgetting the wrong, we’ve born in this place.

We’ve been brought down to dust; we cling to the ground.

Lord rise up and help, redeem us by your love.