William Byrd: Deus, venerunt gentes

Deus, venerunt gentes in hereditatem tuam;
polluerunt templum sanctum tuum;
posuerunt Hierusalem in pomorum custodiam.
Posuerunt morticinia servorum tuorum
escas volatilibus coeli,
carnes sanctorum tuorum bestiis terrae.
Effuderunt sanguinem ipsorum tanquam aquam
in circuitu Hierusalem, et non erat qui sepeliret.
Facti sumus opprobrium vicinis nostris,
subsannatio et illusio his qui in circuitu nostro sunt.

O God, the gentiles are come into thine
inheritance;
they have defiled thy holy temple;
they have made Jerusalem into an orchard
watch-tower.
They have laid out the dead bodies of thy
servants as food for the birds of the air,
the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.
They have poured out their blood like the water
around Jerusalem and there was no-one to bury
them.
We are become a disgrace in the eyes of our
neighbours,
an object of scorn and derision to those who
are round about us.


Psalm 78 vv 1–4

Performance by I Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworth conducting [NML(info)