1. For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
Our God, our fathers’ God;
Thou hast made thy children mighty
By the touch of the mountain sod;
Thou hast led thy chosen Israel
To freedom’s last abode.
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
Our God, our fathers’ God.
2. At the hands of foul oppressors,
We’ve borne and suffered long;
Thou hast been our help in weakness,
And thy strength hath made us strong;
Amid ruthless foes outnumbered,
In weariness we trod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
Our God, our fathers’ God.
3. Thou hast led us here in safety
Where the mountain bulwark stands
As the guardian of the loved ones
Thou hast brought from many lands.
For the rock and for the river,
The valley’s fertile sod,
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
Our God, our fathers’ God.
4. Here the wild bird swiftly darts on
His quarry from the heights,
And the red untutored Indian
Seeketh here his rude delights;
But the Saints for thy communion
Have sought the mountain sod:
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
Our God, our fathers’ God.
5. We are watchers of a beacon
Whose light must never die;
We are guardians of an altar
’Midst the silence of the sky.
Here the rocks yield founts of courage,
Struck forth as by thy rod:
For the strength of the hills we bless thee
Our God, our fathers’ God.
6. For the shadow of thy presence,
Our camp of rocks o’erspread;
For the canyons’ rugged defiles
And the beetling crags o’erhead;
For the snows and for the torrents,
And for our burial sod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee
Our God, our fathers’ God.