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I stand on the walls of Jerusalem

As the armies march toward the city

I know why they’ve come and what they’ll do

And my heart cries out desperately

Why, Oh Lord? Why must I speak

In prophecies of destruction and loss?

They hate me, mock me, call me a traitor

And I sometimes wonder if it’s true

Yet this I call to mind

When only a youth the Lord called me

As one set apart from the womb

“Go to the nations and speak for me

Uproot, tear down, build and plant”

I sit on a hill by burning Jerusalem

Watching the armies march away

A line of captives hooked together

Is hauled off to a distant land

And I ask aloud: “Why Lord?!

Why did my words have to come true?

There’s nothing left but a stream of tears

And a mouth full of dust”

Yet this I call to mind

The Lord’s compassion never fails

His faithfulness ever constant

It is good for a man to carry

The weight of the yoke in his youth

I wander the streets of lonely Jerusalem

Where the children used to play

Time has passed but yet it remains

Bereft of the mothers who nursed it

And I find the question “Why”

Taking hold of me again

If what God said is true

There’s still a long time to wait

Yet this I call to mind

Days of a new covenant, a new law,

And a new people are coming, says the Lord

They all, least to great, will know me

And Jerusalem will live again, new

I kneel at the desolate temple mount

And I pray for that day and I hope