1.

To God our Strength exalt the song,
To Jacob 's Lord the note prolong;
Prepare, prepare with tuneful art
Your shares of harmony to part:

2.

Come, take the Hymn, the timbrel ring,
Praise on the harp your heav'nly King;
Strike into life the trembling wire,
With loudest blasts the trump inspire;

3.

For see the Moon with recent horn
Lead joyous on the festal Morn,
Whose hallow'd mirth to Israel 's Tribes
Thy Mandate, mightiest Lord, prescribes.

4.

Its just observance Joseph learn'd,
When, pleas'd; with parting step he spurn'd
The ruthless soil, along whose shore
A voice he heard unknown before.

5.

Thus spake th' Almighty — I, his God,
I from his shoulders took the load;
I from the clay his toiling hands
Releas'd, and burst his stubborn bands.

6.

O Thou, the voice of whose distress
From out the thunder's dark recess,
Propitious to thy pray'r, I heard;
In whose defence my arm I rear'd;

7.

Whose faith my light inflictions tried
Near Meribah 's contentious tide,
O Israel! — with attentive ear
Thy Maker's just injunction hear.

8.

Let none thy homage claim but Me,
Nor bow to foreign Gods the knee;
Jehovah only be thy Dread;
Thy footsteps He from Egypt led;

9.

He gracious bids thee wide extend
Thy lap, while down his gifts descend,
And streaming copious from on high
Yield to thy wish the full supply.

10.

Thus spake my Voice, but spake in vain;
Th' obdurate Race, with fierce disdain,
Resolv'd their error to pursue,
Back from my yoke their neck withdrew.

11.

No more their frenzy I restrain,
But give their wild desires the rein,
And leave them, guideless, to fulfil
The dictates of a headlong Will.

12.

O had my People in their breast,
By heav'nly Discipline impress'd,
The lessons of my Love retain'd,
And trod the path by Me ordain'd!

13.

When forth to War thy troops were led,
Myself, O Israel , at their head
Had met the Battle on its way,
Thy Guide to Time's remotest day; —

14.

Each humbled foe had own'd thy pow'r,
To ease thy want, its purest flour
Th' augmented harvest had bestow'd,
And honey from the rock had flow'd.