We celebrate the wars we won
The blood of history's ancient sons
We followed Judah Maccabee
We fought against iniquity
We saved ourselves with help from one
Who loves his children, everyone
Everyone, everyone
Everyone, everyone

So now Jerusalem, you know that it's not right
After all you've been through, you should know better than
To become the wicked ones almighty god once saved you from

The lessons we should learn from all
The fighting in the days of old
When providence was still divine
The sanctuary purified
Let lightning circle all you hold
And don't uproot the olive grove

So now Jerusalem, you know that it's not right
After all you've been through, you should know better than
To become the wicked ones almighty god once saved you from

So now Jerusalem, you know that it's not right
After all you've been through, you should know better than
To become the wicked ones almighty god once saved you from


Lyrics submitted by lostchromosone45, edited by Qong, seantheshat, abutlerducote

Jerusalem Lyrics as written by Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn

Lyrics © TERRORBIRD PUBLISHING LLC

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Jerusalem song meanings
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12 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    This is one of my favorite Mirah songs, and indeed definitely my favorite anti-war song. It's not bitter, just kinda like, "Hey guys, remember this?"

    Askewon January 07, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I adore this song and I think it's way to short

    rockthemsockson December 10, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this song makes me want to pat israel on the head and be like "aww, you should know better." its so cute, i like this song.

    peace

    jujufruitbad19on February 02, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    yeah, i'm pretty positive it's about the israel-palestine conflict. not sure why that's "ugh"-worthy, though... anyway, some lyric sites show it as "let light encircle all you hold/and then uproot the olive grove" which is really messed up. because the olive groves are very special to the palestinians. i'm glad this version is correct.

    gr4vityon October 13, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i think song is about the irsaeli-palestinian conflict, but only as a way to convey a larger message about hypocrisy and learning from the past to better ourselves

    gonkaon March 17, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Relevant, anyone?

    ...even though it was written about a different conflict... I was going through my music and had to listen to this one about ten times.

    LifeCafeon July 25, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's kind of weird how the song is about a world issue but in such a simple way, and sounds like she's just giving advice to a friend. I like it though.

    mockingsmileon September 01, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think it's a song against Zionism.

    Nahthankieson June 21, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree with what's already been said for the most part, but i also think that generally she's just commenting on the state of the world. the human race has come so far but we're terrible to our planet and each other, we're digging our own grave. but more specifically, i'd probably agree with the isreal-palestine theory.

    invertedcompasson January 10, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think this song might be loosely based on the book of Judges from the Bible. In the book, God appointed a Judge who fought off the enemies and rescued the Hebrews from their wicked ways. But once the Judge died the Hebrews returned to their sinful lives. This same pattern happened over and over throughout the book at least a dozen times. Everytime the Hebrews became wicked again God appointed a Judge, the Judge turned the Hebrews back to God, the Judge died and then the Hebrews went back to sinfulness. Thats what I feel the chorus of this song is talking about.

    So now Jerusalem You know that it's not right After all you've been through You should know better than to become The wicked ones almighty God once saved you from

    The_Gloamingon December 01, 2008   Link

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