BORN INTO A STORY (BALLADS OF THE EXODUS)
I was born into a story of Joseph and his seed
When the sons of Jacob came no more than seventy
And multiplied in Egypt before the face of a new King
I was born into a story much bigger, much bigger than me
I was born into a story, of slaves, Pharaoh's, of priests
In the shadow of an empire, in tribulation, toil, and grief
When our Hebrew sons were slain by, Egyptian sword so violently
I was born into a story much bigger, much bigger than me
I was born into a river, the rushes and the reeds
I was born into the groaning of my people to be free
I was born into oppression, brutal days of slavery
I was born into a story much bigger, much bigger than me
I was born into a suffering, longing to cross the sea
From the agony of bondage to the joy and liberty
Into the Land we've long heard about, the Land we've longed to see
I was born into a story much bigger, much bigger than me
This is a ballad of fire and glory
That begins in the rivers and quarries
In the shadow of a tyrant King
In a land where my fathers before me
Sang their own ballad of deliverance from
The great famine when Jacob's sons
Stood before their brother undone
When they saw who Joseph had become
This is a ballad of my family tree
Its branches are broken and twisted like me
Just like my mother my father you see
Just like my whole twisted family
My father took his father's sister to be
His wife and the mother of my brother and me
I was born of the Levites, the tribe of priests
But I was raised in the home of an Arab King
This is a ballad of Exodus
Of how the Lord He delivered us
After four hundred and thirty years
And generations of bitter tears
This is a ballad, a redemption song
Sung by a people who suffered long
Who saw the arm of their Lord so strong
In a land where they never belonged
I am Moshe
He drew me out of waters deep
He is Yahweh
The One who set our people free
I was born into a river, the rushes and the reeds
I was born into the groaning of my people to be free
I was born into oppression, brutal days of slavery
I was born into a story much bigger, much bigger than me