Disown'd of Heaven, by man opprest. J. Joyce. [On behalf of the Jews]. First appeared in the Christian Observer for Nov. 1809, in 5 stanzsa of 6 lines, entitled, "Hymn applicable to the Present Condition of the Jews," and signed " J. J." In 1833-5 two altered versions appeared almost together, both beginning,"O why should Israel's sons, once blest." One was included by Elliott in his Psalms & Hymns, 1835, No. 137, and the second in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833, No. 408. In later hymnals Bickersteth's text has been almost exclusively adopted, as found in Windle's Collection, No. 305. Hall's alterations in the Mitre, 1836, No. 106, have passed out of use, in common with those of Elliott and others.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)