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"Oh Jerusalem--Lauryn Hill" |
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Oh Jerusalem yeah, oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem... |
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Realizing that there's no place else to go |
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And there's nobody I know who can help me |
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Text book solutions are so improbable |
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Cuz everybody else is just as empty |
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Naked as the day that I was born, I tried to hide |
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...behind education and philosophy |
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Hopeless explanation to describe a situation |
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I can't see because the world's on top of me |
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Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me |
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From the body of this death |
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Freeing me from dust, and the superficial trust |
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Of an enemy that seeks to take my breath |
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Failing to connect, cuz I'm morally defect |
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By reason of the God inside my head |
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Causing me to see, only what pertains to me |
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Believing I'm alive when I'm still dead |
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Limited to earth, unable to find out my worth |
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Cuz I... can't see past my own vanity |
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If I'm not included, then I just have to remove it |
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From my mind because it has to be in sanity |
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Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me |
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From the body of this death |
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Can I even factor, that I've only been an actor |
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In this staged interpretation of this day |
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Focused on the shadow, with my back turned to the light |
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Too intelligent to see it's me in the way |
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What a paradox, having God trapped in a box |
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All this time professing to be spiritual |
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Naturally pretending, that I'm actually defending |
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God (?) don't need material |
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Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness |
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That thou may be saved from thy deception |
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How long, shall thy face those lies within thee |
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Oh Jerusalem, keeping thee from perfection |
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Submit to truth, leave the deception of thy youth |
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So we could walk in the council of authority |
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Forget the proof, our generation so aloof |
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Only follow in the steps of the majority |
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Trust in the Lord, with all thy heart |
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And lay not to thine, oh an understanding in all thy ways |
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Acknowledge Him, and He shall correct our paths |
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Be (?) you can follow him |
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We judge and condemn, just as ignorant as them |
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Who religion tells us that we should ignore |
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Perpetrating we're in covenant with Him |
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Exposed by the very things that we adore |
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We grin and shake hands, then lay ambush for the man |
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Who has a different point of view then us |
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Infuriated cuz he doesn't understand |
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Bringing up those things we don't want to discuss |
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Why still do evil, we don't know how to do good |
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Walking on in darkness running from the light, ey |
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Led to believe, because we live in neighborhoods |
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Telling us what's going on will be alright |
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Oh so repressed, so convinced that I was blessed |
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When I played with my game of Monopoly |
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Oh to suggest, that my life is still a mess |
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Who reveal the pride I'm hiding is what's stopping me |
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Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness |
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That thou may be saved from thy deception |
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How long, shall thy face those lies within thee |
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Oh Jerusalem keeping them from perfection |
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Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bare |
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...fruit of itself except in the vine |
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I am the vine, ye are the branches, He's in live in me |
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And I in him, the same bring forth much fruit |
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Without me, you can do nothing |
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Oh Jerusalem, you're traditions have deceived you |
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I've chosen you, you haven't chosen me |
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Do whatsoever, you asking my name he may give to you |
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But in vain they call my name |
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teaching doctrines just the same |
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Justified among themselves |
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But God know with the heart, what man esteemed as smart |
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Is an abomination to Emmanuel |
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Just repent, turn from selfish motivation |
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So iniquity will not cause your demise |
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Make you a new heart and a new spirit for why would he die |
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Oh Jerusalem, please tell me why |
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I have no pleasure in the death of him to die |
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Says the Lord God where forth turn yourselves and live |
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It's not the talkers, but the walkers and his word |
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Are the only ones the Father will forgive |
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Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness |
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That thou may be saved from thy deception |
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How long, shall thy face those lies within thee |
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Oh Jerusalem, providing you no protection |
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Oh Jerusalem... |
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(The end) |
