Translation of Ma'oz Tzur

Just the text ma'am

[Note: this is based on the popular Hebrew text, not any ‘medieval’ original. Below is my English translation, used for my previous post Meditation on Ma’oz Tzur.]

Stronghold! The rock, my rescuer!

To whom tribute is proper.

Fix my house of prayer –

And there, a thanksgiving we’ll offer.

When you prepare to slaughter

That barking oppressor,

I’ll end all time,

with song and rhyme,

Inauguration of the altar.

My soul had its fill of evil,

My strength sapped by sorrow.

My life was embittered by toil

As slave to the kingdom of Pharaoh.

God’s almighty hand let go

His treasure-nation below.

Pharaoh’s troops,

And family groups,

Sank like stone under the waters’ flow.

To His holiest sanctum He brought me

But even there I was unsteady.

The tyrant came and exiled me

For I had served idolatry.

Poison wine I did pour,

And almost became no more,

But at the end of Bavel –

Zerubavel!

At the end of seventy – I was free!

To cut down the pine’s great height

sought Haman the Agagite.

You, God, set the trap tight

His haughtiness You did smite.

You raised up Mordechai the Yemini

Erase the enemy’s name you decreed –

His many sons

And hired guns

You hanged them all upon the tree.

I was trampled by the Greeks

Before the Hasmoneans reigned.

My sacred tower walls they breached

And all the pure oils— stained!

Yet from the last remaining cruse–

A miracle for the Jews!

The wise appraised

That for eight days

Song and cheer would be ordained.

Extend now your holy hand

Advance the end, the salvation.

Avenge the blood of your servants’ stand

From the wicked nation.

For time just continues to extend,

And the bad days seem to never end.

Shove away the red

With the shadow of the dead

Let our seven leaders reawaken.