Jerusalem! Jerusalem! I’ve set my love on thee;
O! foolish and ungrateful! to wander thus from me.
How kindly would I gather thee beneath my shelt’ring wings!
Jerusalem! thou knowest not whence all thy safety springs.
O! well do I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth;
The love of thine espousals, thy faithfulness and truth;
When thou thy Lord didst follow in a land that was not sown,
In a bleak and howling wilderness—unpeopled, dark, and lone.
I led thee through the desert, and through a land of drought,
And from Egyptian bondage I brought thee safely out;
I placed thee in a fertile land, where milk and honey flow;
And now thou lovest strangers, and after them wilt go.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! my bowels yearn for thee;
For cisterns, broken cisterns, thou hast forsaken me!
I am the living fountain, whose waters gently flow;
How couldst thou ever leave me, so far astray to go?
O! when wilt thou return again? my arms are open’d wide;
Return, backsliding Israel, to thine almighty Guide!
I’ll lead thee to the pastures green, and to the waters clear;—
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! the friendly warning hear!