O, tell me, thou life and delight of my soul

O, tell me, thou life and delight of my soul,Where the flock of thy pasture are feeding:I seek thy protection, I need thy control;I would go where my Shepherd is leading.

O, tell me the place where the flock are at rest,Where the noontide will find them reposing;The tempest now rages, my soul is distressed,And the pathway of peace I am losing.

And why should I stray with the flocks of thy foes,In the desert where now they are roving;Where hunger and thirst, where contentions and woes,Where fierce conflicts their ruin are proving?

Ah, when shall my woes and my wandering cease,And the follies that fill me with weeping?O Shepherd of Israel, restore me that peaceThou dost give to the flock thou art keeping!

A voice from the Shepherd now bids me returnBy the way where the footprints are lying;No longer to wander, no longer to mourn;And homeward my spirit is flying