The Choir and The Oratory :: :: University of Virginia Library

Let Israel's God arise!
Then shall his enemies
Be scattered at the terrors of His name:
Then shall the wicked flee,
And all their mightiest be
As smoke before the wind, as wax before the flame.

But, with exultant voice,
His people shall rejoice
Before His presence: loud their songs shall rise.
Sing praises unto Him
Who, on swift cherubim
Descending, makes His chariot the skies.

Jehovah, God alone!
And justice is His throne.

The orphan's Father, and the widow's God,
He snaps the prisoner's chain,
Brings home the captive train,
Scatters the proud, and breaks the oppressor's rod.

O God! when erst at Israel's head
Thou wentest forth, and through the wilderness,
By thy mysterious banner led,
Thy chosen people moved, Earth quaked with dread,
As conscious of Thy footsteps; nor did less
The solid firmament confess,
Dissolving into flood and flame,
The terrors of her Maker's name.
Then didst Thou rain down angels' food
Upon the fainting multitude:
Like dew the daily wonder fell
Around the tents of Israel.
And still the poor Thy goodness share;
Still Israel is Jehovah's care.

'Tis He hath given the song,
Which virgin choirs prolong

In joyous strains, a many-voiced train:
“By Heaven discomfited,
They fled, the monarchs fled,
And Judah's daughters share the splendid gain.

“Deck'd with the spoil of kings,
Bright as the silvery wings
Of golden-plumaged dove their rich array,
The victors come: for, lo!
God has rebuked the foe,
And death-like gloom gives place to glorious day.”

Lofty are Bashan's oak-crown'd heights,
With pastures rich and fertilizing rills:
But, O ye loftier hills!
Upon the mountain in which God delights,
Look not so proudly down,
As if with envious frown.
Know, He hath chosen Zion for His own:
There hath Jehovah fixed His everlasting throne.

Attendant on his royal state,
Legions of happy angels wait;

Thousands of myriads from on high,
Heaven's seraphic chivalry.
Such the pomp that Sinai saw,
When thunders spake the awful law;
Nor less their viewless hosts surround
Sion's consecrated ground.
By all their shining hosts attended,
Thou hast on high, O Lord, ascended!
The captors were led captive then:
And largely ev'n rebellious men
Shared of Thy gifts divinely free,
The first-fruits of Thy victory;
That God might with His people dwell,
Jehovah, our Immanuel.

Blessed be God our King; His chosen nation
His arm has saved. Praise Him from day to day.
Jehovah is the God of our salvation:
He saves from death, or calls the sword to slay.
The Lord hath smitten with a deadly wound
The head of those who hate Him: fell dismay
Shall strike the rebel host, and all their pride confound.

From Bashan I will bring them, saith the Lord,
And from the western sea, to meet thy sword.
Yes, they shall come, ne'er to return again,
And dogs obscene shall feast upon their slain.

Men saw the goodly train,
When to thy holy fane,
O God, the glad procession moved along.
The choral voices lead,
The minstrels next succeed,
And virgins with their timbrels aid the song.

Band after band, they raise
A thousand tongues in praise,
As Israel's tribes in marshalled state march on.
First, youngest Benjamin,
With royal Judah seen:
And Nephthalim is there, and sea-bound Zabulon.

O God, who hast for Israel fought,
Confirm the mercy thou hast wrought.
Hither let kings repair,—

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To Salem, where Thy temple stands,
Bearing the wealth of distant lands.
Chase from their reedy lair
On Jordan's marge, the beasts of prey;
Drive Syria's lion far away;
The assembly of the mighty overawe;
That haughty lords of nations, they who tread
On silver-paved floors, Thy name may dread.
Scatter the people who delight in war.
Let Egypt's princes haste to bow the knee,
And Ethiopia stretch her swarthy hands to Thee.

Let every kingdom raise
To God its voice of praise,—
To Him who makes the heaven of heavens His throne.
Awful His voice of might;
His strength is infinite:
He, Israel's God and King, is God alone.

The glories of His Name,
The spacious heavens proclaim.
How awful is the God whom we adore!

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Unto His people, He
Gives might and victory.
Blessed be God Most High for evermore!