It was the reign of king Antiochus
a cruel man of Seleucid dynasty
He wanted to crush Judea and
set up there a tyranny.
He did desecrate the Temple
and marched with his troops to Jerusalem
But the Maccabees rose to rebellion
and fought a bitter war with them

Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Give me light menora, till the morning comes
Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Light before the morning comes!

Now the king had a host of pikemen
he had elephants and he had cavalry
But what he did lack was the strategy
as the Maccabes went a-guerrill-y
They set up a many an ambush
where the mighty Greek phalanx could not fight too well
And soon Jerusalem fell on their hands
before anyone could tell -

Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Give me light menora, till the morning comes
Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Light before the morning comes!

Now the Temple was consecrated
and the Pagan Greek idols, they would go away
But priests found themselves in trouble
as lamp oil was nowhere found - oi vey!
There was just one amphora of lamp oil
with enough of olive oil to burn one day
Now the question was how to keep Lamp burn
until the new oil could be on its way!

Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Give me light menora, till the morning comes
Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Light before the morning comes!

The priests, they did lit menora
and they were afraid that that they'd run out of oil
They collected the olives they could find
and at the oil press they worked and toiled
But menora, it kept on lighting
it did burn for a week and two days more
When the new oil was ready and finished
a miracle, they said, it was sure.

Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Give me light menora, till the morning comes
Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Light before the morning comes!

Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Give me light menora, till the morning comes
Give me light, menora - give me light, menora
Light before the morning comes!