O Fortress, Rock of my salvation, unto thee it is becoming to give praise:

let my house of prayer be restored, and I will there offer thee thanksgivings

when thou shalt have prepared a slaughter of the blaspheming foe,

I will complete with song and psalm the dedication of the altar.

Full sated was my soul with ills, my strength was spent with sorrow;

they embittered my life by hardship during my subjection to the dominion of Egypt,¹

footnotes: ¹ The kingdom of the heifer," see Jeremiah 46:20.

but God with his great power brought forth the chosen race,

while the host of Pharaoh and all his seed sank like a stone into the deep.

To his holy oracle he brought me, yet there also I found no peace,

for the oppressor came and led me captive, because I had served strange gods:

I had to quaff the wine of bewilderment; well nigh had I perished,

when Babylon's end drew near; through Zerubbabel I was saved after seventy years.

The Agagite (Haman), the son of Hammedatha, sought to cut down the lofty fir tree (Mordecai)¹;

footnotes: ¹ See Talmud Babli, Tr. Megillah, 10b.

but his design became a snare to himself, and his pride was brought to an end.

The head of the Benjamite thou didst exalt, but the enemy's name thou Midst blot out:

the many sons he had gotten thou didst hang upon the gallows.

The Grecians were gathered against me in the days of the Hasmoneans;

they broke down the walls of my towers, and defiled all the oils;

but from one of the last remaining flasks a miracle was wrought for thy beloved¹,

footnotes: ¹ Likened to a lily in Song of Solomon 2:2.

and their men of understanding appointed these eight days for song and praises.

Bare Your holy arm and hasten the End of salvation –

Avenge the vengeance of Your servants’ blood from the wicked nation.

For the time has delayed and there is no end to the days of evil,

Push away the Red One in the lowest shadow and establish for us the seven shepherds.