This prayer was composed by Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (the Light of the Exile).

Remember the covenant of Abraham

and the binding of Isaac,

and return the captives

of the tents of Jacob

and deliver us for the sake of Your Name.

We lost the good land all too soon,

and the prophesied exile has lasted very long;

in Israel, they no longer live in open villages,

our plenty has been turned into famine.

Turn with compassion

to the remnant of Israel,

and deliver us for the sake of Your Name.

Exile after exile,

has all of Judah been exiled,

grief and destruction is her lot each day,

and there is none to inquire or plead for her.

Return the captives

of the tents of Jacob

and deliver us for the sake of Your Name.

The city of holiness and its environs

had become disgraced and plundered;

all its treasures are buried and hidden,

and nothing remains except this Torah.

Turn with compassion

to the remnant of Israel,

and deliver us for the sake of Your Name.

Mighty Redeemer, for Your sake redeem us,

see how helpless we are,

look, our pious men are gone,

and we have none to intercede for us.

Return the captives

of the tents of Jacob

and deliver us for the sake of Your Name.

The covenant with the Patriarchs

the Matriarchs

and the [twelve] tribes,

Your oft-repeated mercy and kindness—

remember [now] O God

to those who are stricken and tortured,

and for Your sake [they are ready]

to be killed all the day.

Turn with compassion

to the remnant of Israel,

and deliver us for the sake of Your Name.

You Who avenge [innocent] blood,

judge our cause,

repay [punish] sevenfold

into the bosom of those who torment us;

we have been sold for naught,

[therefore] redeem us without [ransom] money,

raise up Your ruined, Holy Temple,

before our [very] eyes,

and return the captives

of the tents of Jacob

and deliver us for the sake of Your Name.

Remember to us the covenant of the ancestors,

as You promised,

“And I will remember for their sake,

the covenant with their ancestors,

whom I brought out

of the land of Egypt,

in the sight of the nations;

to be their God

I am Adonoy.”