As some may not know the meaning of the words of Naomi Shemer’s beautiful song, Jerusalem of Gold, which came first in the 60 Year Song Contest, Mervyn Medicks suggested we publish it. Several translations appear on the website www.jerusamimofgold.co.il/translations.

Below is a version which appears in Landmarks: Resource material, poetry, songs, games and activities, edited by Avi Tsur and published by the Israeli Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport in 1998 in Jerusalem:103. It also accompanies the musical notes to the song at Musical Adventures.

Jerusalem of Gold by Naomi Shemer
As clear as wine, the wind is flying
Among the dreamy pines
As evening light is slowly dying
And a lonely bell still chimes,
So many songs, so many stories
The stony hills recall...
Around her heart my city carries
A lonely ancient wall.

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.

Alas, the dry wells and fountains,
Forgotten market-day
The sound of horn from Temple's mountain
No longer calls to pray,
The rocky caves at night are haunted
By sounds of long ago
When we were going to the Jordan
By way of Jericho.

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.

But when I come to count your praises
And sing Hallel to you
With pretty rhymes I dare not crown you
As other poets do,
Upon my lips
Is always burning
Your name, so dear, so old:
If I forget Yerushalaim
Of bronze and light and gold...

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.

Back to the wells and to the fountains
Within the ancient walls
The sound of horn from Temple's mountain

Again so loudly calls,
From rocky caves, this very morning
A thousand suns will glow
As we shall go down to the Jordan
By way of Jericho.

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.