אָז כְּעֵינֵי עֲבָדִים | Az K’einei Avadim (As slaves, with eyes beseeching…), a piyyuṭ for the seventh circuit of Hoshana Rabba (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation) and Unknown

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5 November 2025 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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Tags:

acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, הושענות hoshanot, פיוטים piyyuṭim, rhyming translation

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
רַחֶם נָא קְהַל עֲדַת יְשֻׁרוּן סְלַח וּמְחַל עֲוֺנָם וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	O pity Jeshurun’s hosts, I pray to thee; Forgive them, pardon their iniquity. God of our salvation, save Thou us!
אָז כְּעֵינֵי עֲבָדִים אֶל יַד אֲדוֹנִים בָּֽאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ נִדּוֹנִים וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	As slaves, with eyes beseeching, seek their lord, We came before Thee stricken, and implored: O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
גֵּאֶה אֲדֹנֵי הָאֲדֹנִים נִתְגָּֽרוּ בָֽנוּ מְדָנִים דָּשֽׁוּנוּ וּבְעָלֽוּנוּ זוּלָתְךָ אֲדוֹנִים וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	Triumphant Lord of lords, to Thee we pray: Strife like a whirlwind scattered us, and we Thy sons lay crushed beneath the tyrant’s sway. O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
הֵן גַּֽשְׁנוּ הַיּוֹם בְּתַחֲנוּן עָדֶֽיךָ רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן וְסִפַּֽרְנוּ נִפְלְאוֹתֶֽיךָ בְּשִׁנּוּן וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	Behold! with supplication how we throng— O Lord of grace and mercy,—unto Thee; Thy wondrous deeds, our never-ceasing song. O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ נָא אַל תִּיבָשׁ חַשְׁרַת מַֽיִם כְּאֵבָהּ וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	“Flowing with milk and honey”: this Thy land Spare Thou from drought. O stay her tears of woe: Bind up her torrents with Thy healing hand. O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
טְעֵֽנוּ בַשְּׁמֵנָה בְּיַד שִׁבְעָה וּשְׁמֹנָה יָשָׁר צַדִּיק אֵל אֱמוּנָה וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	Plant us, we pray, upon a fruitful sod; Send as of old defenders from the foe,^[1] Micah 5:4. Thou just and righteous One! Thou faithful God! O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
כָּרַֽתָּ בְּרִית לָאָֽרֶץ עֹד כׇּל יְמֵי הָאָֽרֶץ לְבִלְתִּי פְרָץ בָּהּ פָּֽרֶץ וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	Recall Thy covenant with the earth of yore, Thy sign, that while the earth doth yet abide, Thine anger break and rend it nevermore. O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
מִתְחַנֲנִים עֲלֵי מַֽיִם בַּעֲרָבִים עַל יִבְלֵי מָֽיִם נָא זְכוֹר לָֽמוֹ נִסּוּךְ הַמַּֽיִם וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	The while for water we entreat Thee now, Athirst as willows by the waterside, The pouring forth of old, remember Thou! O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
שִׂיחִים בְּדֶֽרֶךְ מַטָּעָתָם עוֹמְסִים בְּשַׁוְעָתָם עֲנֵם בְּקוֹל פְּגִיעָתָם וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	These bearing boughs held upward in the way They sprout from earth; these burdened by their plea, O answer, when in sudden need they pray. O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
פֹּעֵל יְשׁוּעוֹת פְּנֵה לְפִלּוּלָם שְׁעוֹת צַדְּקֵם אֵל לְמוֹשָׁעוֹת וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	Thou Worker of deliverance, alone! Turn to them, hear the words that mount to Thee: God of Salvation, justify Thine own. O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
קוֹל רִגְשָׁם תִּֽשֵַע תִּפְתַּח אֶֽרֶץ וְיִפְרוּ יֶשַׁע רַב לְהוֹשִֽׁיעַ וְלֹא חָפֵץ רֶֽשַׁע וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	List to the surging voices of Thy throng, Open the earth, let help spring forth, O Thou Delighting not in evil; Saviour strong! O God of our salvation, save Thou us!
שַׁעֲרֵי שָׁמַֽיִם פְּתַח וְאוֹצָרְךָ הַטּוֹב לָֽנוּ תִפְתַּח תּוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ וְרִיב אַל תִּמְתַּח וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃	Open for us the gates of heav’n, we crave: Open for us Thy goodly treasure now: Ah! strife prolong not endlessly, but save! O God of our salvation, save Thou us!

This is the piyyut “Az K’einei Avadim (As slaves, with eyes beseeching,…)” by an unknown paytan for the seventh circuit of the Hoshana Rabba service (on the seventh and final day of Sukkot), published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Sukkot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Sukkot (1908), pp. 183.

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	Micah 5:4.

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Elsie Davis (translation)

Elsie Naomi Davis Schryver (1876-1933), born in Derby, England, was a Jewish translator of liturgy and a mother. She was born at Friarfield House, Derby, the oldest of two children of Louisa (née Jonas) and Arthur Davis. Her father's family were secular Jewish precision instrument makers, who had immigrated to England from Bavaria in the early nineteenth century. A civil engineer by trade, Arthur Davis became religiously observant and mastered the Hebrew language, becoming an accomplished Hebraist noted for his study of cantillation marks in the Tanakh. The family moved to Kilburn, London when Nina was six weeks old, later settling in Bayswater. There, Davis gave his daughters an intensive scholarly education in Hebrew and Jewish studies, teaching them himself each morning before breakfast from the age of four, and taking them regularly to the synagogue. The Davis's moved in learned Jewish circles, and friends of Nina's parents included the families of Nathan Adler, Simeon Singer, Claude Montefiore, Solomon Schechter, Herbert Bentwich, and Elkan Adler. Arthur Davis was one of the "Kilburn Wanderers"—a group of Anglo-Jewish intellectuals that formed around Solomon Schechter in the 1880s—members of which took an interest in Nina's work and helped her find publication for her writings. Eleven of Elsie's translations of piyyutim are credited in the maḥzorim of Herbert Adler and her father Arthur Davis. With her husband, Samuel Barnett Schryver, she was the parent of two daughters, Rosalind Leah Schryver and Priscilla Naomi Schryver. Elsie was the older sister of Nina Salaman Davis (1877-1925), who also translated medieval piyyutim.

Unknown

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)