God of Abraham our Father! God of Abraham, the father
Of the Jews and other peoples who don’t use your name in vain!
God of all those who adore you, argue with you, and implore you!
God of those who kneel before you, full of honor or disdain!
God of multitudes of martyrs who acknowledged (through their pain)
’You are One’, and then were slain!

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Help me understand the story, which redounds to you in glory,
Of the binding and near-sacrifice of Abraham’s dear son.
Help me tell, in my own meter, in my language but much sweeter,
In a strong hand but much neater, tell the story just begun.
Help me, too, to understand you and the risks that you have run,
In the story just begun!

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Help me understand the reason why, in some unstated season,
You did speak to Abraham, commanding him to take the lad,
To take Isaac, wood, and fire, to a place you did require,
On a mountain in Moriah, where the blameless little lad
Did inquire of his father where the lamb was to be had ---
He, the lamb, was to be had!

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Even if the truth eludes me, and my ignorance precludes me
From true knowledge of the happenings that awesome special day,
With the Bible here beside me, with its ancient words to guide me,
And its hopeful faith inside me, may I hope to find my way!
May I manage to imagine all the meanings of that day,
As I marvel o’er that day!

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