Version of Paraphrase of the Psalm, A - Psalm 80

1.

Shepherd of Israel , bow thine ear;
O Thou our pray'r indulgent hear,
Who Joseph 's pasture hast prepar'd,
His Guide by day, by night his Guard.

2.

Betwixt the Cherubs seated high,
Glad with thy beams our longing eye:
Thine aid, great God, intreated give,
And teach our fainting hope to live.

3.

With All who from Manasses claim
Their birth, and All of Ephraim 's name,
Each hostile pow'r by Thee o'erthrown,
Let Benjamin thy presence own;

4.

Leader of Hosts, Almighty Lord!
Extend thy succours oft implor'd;
Turn us again, thy face display,
And grief and fear shall sly away.

5.

How long shall Israel 's Offspring see
Thy wrath (while thus with bended knee
Their supplicating hands they spread,)
Smoke unextinguish'd o'er their head?

6.

Her food the bread of tears, her draught
With sorrow's largest mixture fraught,
Sad Sion sees deriding foes
Her sons, their destin'd prey, inclose.

7.

Leader of Hosts, Almighty Lord!
Extend thy succours oft implor'd;
Turn us again, thy face display,
And grief and fear shall fly away.

8.

Each pow'r in adverse league combin'd,
To just excision first consign'd,
Behold a Vine from Egypt 's Land,
Transplanted by thy fost'ring hand:

9.

Behold in Canaan 's shores, her bed
By Thee prepar'd, her root outspread
Far as the utmost coast extends;
While o'er the Hills her shade ascends.

10.

Her branches tow'ring to the skies
With healthful stem conspicuous rise,
And round the Cedar's loftiest boughs
Her cov'ring veil intwin'd she throws.

11.

Long cherish'd by thy care she stood;
Here, verging tow'rd th' Assyrian Flood,
In circuit wide the earth she crown'd,
And, There, the Ocean mark'd her bound.

12.

But now, in sad reverse, (Ah! why?)
By Thee o'erthrown the fences lie,
The fruit expos'd beside the way,
To each rapacious hand a prey.

13.

The savage Boar with restless toil
Uproots it from the loosen'd soil,
And ev'ry Monster of the wood
Crops from the branch his obvious food.

14.

Leader of Hosts, and Israel 's Lord!
Return: Thy succours oft implor'd
Extend: from Heav'n's high seat incline
Thy eyes, and visit this thy Vine.

15.

Behold the offspring of thy hand,
The Plant, which Thou hadst bid to stand,
And strengthen'd by thy pow'r defy
Each storm that rends the wintry sky:

16.

The gath'ring flames its trunk surround,
Its ruin'd honours strew the ground.
Beneath the terrors of thine eye
We tremble, Lord, we faint, we die.

17.

O let the Man whom, arm'd with might,
Thy hand ordains our cause to right,
By Thee, great God, supported stand;
And save, O save, a sinking Land.

18.

So ne'er shall Sin our souls enslave;
O snatch us from th' expecting grave,
And ev'ry knee to Thee shall bend,
Thy praise from ev'ry tongue ascend.

19.

Leader of Hosts, Almighty Lord!
Extend thy succours oft implor'd;
Turn us again, thy face display,
And grief and fear shall fly away.
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