Page:Philip Birnbaum - ha-Siddur ha-Shalem (The Daily Prayer Book,1949).pdf/753

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Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who dost champion our cause and vindicate our rights, taking revenge for us, repaying all our mortal enemies as they deserve, and punishing our oppressors. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who dealest out punishment to the oppressors of Israel thy people, O thou, redeeming God.


 * The Lord wrecked the counsel of heathen,
 * Frustrating the plans of the crafty,
 * When against us rose a wicked man.
 * A hateful offshoot of Amalek,
 * Who grew in wealth and dug his own grave.
 * It was his power that ensnared him!
 * He wished to entrap and was entrapped;
 * He sought to destroy and was destroyed.
 * Haman revealed his fathers’ hatred,
 * And stirred Esau’s enmity to Jacob.
 * He failed to recall that he, the foe,
 * Was born thanks to Saul’s pity for Agag.
 * The wicked planned to cut off the righteous;
 * But the impure was caught by the pure.
 * Mordecai’s kindness offset Saul’s fault;
 * Wicked Haman heaped guilt upon guilt.
 * He hid his crafty plans in his heart,
 * And gave himself over to evil.
 * He laid his hands on godly people,
 * Spending his wealth to destroy their name.
 * When Mordecai saw that wrath had gone forth,
 * Haman’s decrees issued in Shushan,
 * He put on sackcloth, sign of mourning,
 * Proclaimed a fast and sat in ashes,
 * Who would rise to atone for errors,
 * To gain pardon for our fathers’ sins?