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How hath to Zion come the foeman dread,

Into the royal city entrance found!

How do the reckless feet of strangers tread

With step irreverent on the hallowed ground!

Lo! when the spoilers stormed the sanctuary,

They fell on priests, the guards of sacred rite,

Watchmen who kept their charge, and fearlessly

Stood by, unflinching 'mid the deadly fight:

Until their blood was shed, profuse as when

Of yore the Nile was turned to bloody flow;

Within the curtain burst unholy men,

Yea, even where the High Priest feared to go,

They stript of gold thy walls' majestic heights,

And the fair windows of thy narrowed lights.

And cry before the Lord

For thresholds waste,

For thresholds waste;

Cry for thy little ones