When Israel, of the Lord beloved, <br />Out from the land of bondage came, <br />Her father's God before her moved, <br />An awful Guide, in smoke and flame. <br />By day, along the astonished lands <br />The cloudy pillar glided slow; <br />By night, Arabia's crimsoned sands <br />Returned the fiery column's glow. <br /> <br />There rose the choral hymn of praise, <br />And trump and timbrel answer'd keen, <br />And Zion's daughters pour'd their lays, <br />With priest's and warrior's voice between. <br />No portents now our foes amaze, <br />Forsaken Israel wanders lone: <br />Our fathers would not know Thy ways, <br />And Thou hast left them to their own. <br /> <br />But present still, though now unseen, <br />When brightly shines the prosperous day, <br />Be thoughts of Thee a cloudy screen, <br />To temper the deceitful ray. <br />And O, when gathers on our path, <br />In shade and storm, the frequent night, <br />Be Thou, long suffering, slow to wrath, <br />A burning and a shining light! <br /> <br />Our harps we left by Babel's streams, <br />The tyrant's jest, the Gentile's scorn; <br />No censer round our altar beams, <br />And mute are timbrel, harp, and horn. <br />But Thou hast said, The blood of goat, <br />The flesh of rams I will not prize; <br />A contrite heart, a humble thought, <br />Are mine accepted sacrifice.<br /><br />Sir Walter Scott<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/rebecca-s-hymn/
