Shepherd of Israel, Bow Thine Ear

Shepherd of Is­ra­el

bow Thine ear;

O Thou

our pray­er in­dul­gent hear

Who Jo­seph’s pas­ture hast pre­pared

His guide by day

by night his guard;

Betwixt the cher­ubs seat­ed high;

Glad with Thy beams our long­ing eyes!

With all who from Ma­nas­seh claim

Their birth

and all of Eph­ra­im’s name

Each hos­tile pow­er by Thee o’er­thrown

Let Ben­ja­min Thy pre­sence own!

How long

great God

shall Is­ra­el see

Thy wrath

nor bend the stub­born knee?

Behold a vine from Egypt’s land

Transplanted by Thy fos­ter­ing hand.

Behold in Ca­naan’s shores her bed

By Thee pre­pare

her root out­spread

Far as the ut­most coast ex­tends

While o’er the hills her shade ex­tends.

Her branch­es

tow­er­ing to the skies

With health­ful stem con­spi­cu­ous rise

Round the tall ce­dar’s lof­ti­est boughs

Her co­ver­ing veil en­twined she throws;

And

strengthen­ed by Thy pow­er

de­fies

Each storm that rends the win­try skies.

Long cher­ished by Thy care she stood;

Here

verg­ing toward th’As­sy­ri­an flood

In cir­cuit wide the earth she crowned

And there

the ocean marked her bound.

But now

in sad rev­erse (ah

why?)

By Thee o’er­thrown the fenc­es lie.

The fruit ex­posed be­side the way

To each ra­pa­cious band a prey;

The sa­vage boar with rest­less toil

Uproots it from the loos­ened soil

And ev­ery mon­ster of the wood

Crops from the branch his ob­vi­ous food.

Leader of hosts

and Is­ra­el’s Lord!

Return; Thy suc­cors oft im­plored

Extend: from Heav’n’s high seat in­cline

Thy eyes

and vis­it this Thy vine.

Turn them again

Thy face dis­play

And grief and fear shall fly away.