In zaltsikn yam fun di mentshlekhe trern
Gefint zikh a shreklekher thom,
Er ken shoyn nit tifer, nit fintsterer vern,
Im tseykhnt a blutiker shtrom.

Dem thom hobn toyznter yorn gegrobn
Emune in sine un payn,
Un toyznter yorn, alts tropn nokh tropn
Es gisn zikh trern arayn.

Beneath the salt sea of humanity's weeping
A terrible chasm abides
It couldn't be darker, it couldn't be deeper
It's stained with a bloody red tide

So much of this sea has been filled with the sorrows
Endured by the suffering Jews
But only the tears of the poor ones are bloody
The rich cry as clear as the dew

Yes only the worker, the pauper, the beggar
Belong to the bloody abyss
While those you call “brother,” the rich and the greedy,
Fly high overhead in their bliss

And thousands of years have created this chasm
Of piety, hatred, and pain
And for thousands of years all humanity's weeping
Flows like a limitless rain

The ocean flows over and floods out the levees
There isn't a hero in sight
Yes where are the ones that will stand at the ready
To dive in the chasm and fight

Der arbeter ver vet endlekh derleyzn
Fun hunger un eybiker layd ?
Un ver vet dem veg im tsu frayhayt bavayzn
Tsu [bad word]  glaykhkayt un freyd ?

Yes, who will at last free the work from slavery,
 Give hunger its final relief?
And who will be guiding the pathway to freedom,
To brotherhood, justice and peace?

The children of wealth, the enlightened, the clergy,
Into Zion the call the Hebrews
We’ve heard this old story before from our enemies
“ghetto for the eternal Jew”

With Zion we answer the prayers of our fathers
From deep in their graves they must call
While souls who are living are hungry and crying
To them we are deaf as the wall

Messiah and Jewry are both dead and buried
Another messiah's [bad word] The new Jewish worker the banner will carry
To signal that justice is done

Der arbeter vet di velt i bafrayen i heyln,
Er vet dergreykhn dem thom bizn [bad word] 
Zol leben [bad word]  fun Lite un Poyln,
Der Yidisher Arbeter Bund.

The world will be freed and be healed by this hero,
Who dives to the root of its wound. [bad word]  in Vilna, in Poland all hail now
The Great Jewish Worker’s Bund!