Laudes Domini ‎#521

521. Ancient Israel

1 Why on the bending willows hung,
Israel! still sleeps thy tuneful string?
Still mute remains thy sullen tongue,
And Zion's song denies to sing?

2 Awake! thy sweetest raptures raise;
Let harp and voice unite their strains:
Thy promised King his sceptre sways:
Jesus, thine own Messiah, reigns!

3 No taunting foes the song require;
No strangers mock thy captive chain;
But friends provoke the silent lyre,
And brethren ask the holy strain.

4 Nor fear thy Salem's hills to wrong,
If other lands thy triumphs share:
A heavenly city claims thy song;
A brighter Salem rises there.

5 By foreign streams no longer roam;
Nor, weeping, think of Jordan's flood:
In every clime behold a home,
In every temple see thy God.

Text Information

• First Line: Why on the bending willows hung
• Title: Ancient Israel
• Author: James Joyce
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1890
• Topic: Missions and Growth; Church: Missions of; Church: Triumph of; Missions

Tune Information

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