Category: Songs of Christ

Tune: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

1    O praise the Lord, for he is good;
          his mercy lasteth ever.
2    Let those of Israel now say,
          His mercy faileth never.

3    Now let the house of Aaron say,
          His mercy lasteth ever.
4    Let those that fear the Lord now say,
          His mercy faileth never.

5    I in distress call’d on the Lord;
          the Lord did answer me:
     He in a large place did me set,
          from trouble made me free.

6    The mighty Lord is on my side,
          I will not be afraid;
     For any thing that man can do
          I shall not be dismay’d.

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7    The Lord doth take my part with them

          that help to succour me:

     Therefore on those that do me hate

          I my desire shall see.

8    Better it is to trust in God

          than trust in man’s defence;

9    Better to trust in God than make

          princes our confidence.

10   The nations, joining all in one,

          did compass me about:

     But in the Lord’s most holy name

          I shall them all root out.

11   They compass’d me about; I say,

          they compass’d me about:

     But in the Lord’s most holy name

          I shall them all root out.

12   Like bees they compass’d me about;

          like unto thorns that flame

     They quenched are: for them shall I

          destroy in God’s own name.

13   Thou sore hast thrust, that I might fall,

          but my Lord helped me.

14   God my salvation is become,

          my strength and song is he.

15   In dwellings of the righteous

          is heard the melody

     Of joy and health: the Lord’s right hand

          doth ever valiantly.

16   The right hand of the mighty Lord

          exalted is on high;

     The right hand of the mighty Lord

          doth ever valiantly.

17   I shall not die, but live, and shall

          the works of God discover.

18   The Lord hath me chastised sore,

          but not to death giv’n over.

19   O set ye open unto me

          the gates of righteousness;

     Then will I enter into them,

          and I the Lord will bless.

20   This is the gate of God, by it

          the just shall enter in.

21   Thee will I praise, for thou me heard’st

          and hast my safety been.

22   That stone is made head corner-stone,

          which builders did despise:

23   This is the doing of the Lord,

          and wondrous in our eyes.

24   This is the day God made, in it

          we’ll joy triumphantly.

25   Save now, I pray thee, Lord; I pray,

          send now prosperity.

26   Blessed is he in God’s great name

          that cometh us to save:

     We, from the house which to the Lord

          pertains, you blessed have.

27   God is the Lord, who unto us

          hath made light to arise:

     Bind ye unto the altar’s horns

          with cords the sacrifice.

28    Thou art my God, I’ll thee exalt;

          my God, I will thee praise.

29    Give thanks to God, for he is good:

          his mercy lasts always.

1    O thou the God of all my praise,

          do thou not hold thy peace;

2    For mouths of wicked men to speak

          against me do not cease:

     The mouths of vile deceitful men

          against me open’d be;

     And with a false and lying tongue

          they have accused me.

3    They did beset me round about

          with words of hateful spight:

     And though to them no cause I gave,

          against me they did fight.

4    They for my love became my foes,

          but I me set to pray.

5    Evil for good, hatred for love,

          to me they did repay.

6    Set thou the wicked over him;

          and upon his right hand

     Give thou his greatest enemy,

          ev’n Satan, leave to stand.

7    And when by thee he shall be judg’d,

          let him condemned be;

     And let his pray’r be turn’d to sin,

          when he shall call on thee.

8    Few be his days, and in his room

          his charge another take.

9    His children let be fatherless,

          his wife a widow make.

10   His children let be vagabonds,

          and beg continually;

     And from their places desolate

          seek bread for their supply.

11   Let covetous extortioners

          catch all he hath away:

     Of all for which he labour’d hath

          let strangers make a prey.

12   Let there be none to pity him,

          let there be none at all

     That on his children fatherless

          will let his mercy fall.

13   Let his posterity from earth

          cut off for ever be,

     And in the foll’wing age their name

          be blotted out by thee.

14   Let God his father’s wickedness

          still to remembrance call;

     And never let his mother’s sin

          be blotted out at all.

15   But let them all before the Lord

          appear continually,

     That he may wholly from the earth

          cut off their memory.

16   Because he mercy minded not,

          but persecuted still

     The poor and needy, that he might

          the broken-hearted kill.

17   As he in cursing pleasure took,

          so let it to him fall;

     As he delighted not to bless,

          so bless him not at all.

18   As cursing he like clothes put on,

          into his bowels so,

     Like water, and into his bones,

          like oil, down let it go.

19   Like to the garment let it be

          which doth himself array,

     And for a girdle, wherewith he

          is girt about alway.

20   From God let this be their reward

          that en’mies are to me,

     And their reward that speak against

          my soul maliciously.

21   But do thou, for thine own name’s sake,

          O God the Lord, for me:

     Sith good and sweet thy mercy is,

          from trouble set me free.

22   For I am poor and indigent,

          afflicted sore am I,

     My heart within me also is

          wounded exceedingly.

23   I pass like a declining shade,

          am like the locust tost:

24   My knees through fasting weaken’d are,

          my flesh hath fatness lost.

25   I also am a vile reproach

          unto them made to be;

     And they that did upon me look

          did shake their heads at me.

26   O do thou help and succour me,

          who art my God and Lord:

     And, for thy tender mercy’s sake,

          safety to me afford:

27   That thereby they may know that this

          is thy almighty hand;

     And that thou, Lord, hast done the same,

          they may well understand.

28   Although they curse with spite, yet, Lord,

          bless thou with loving voice:

     Let them asham’d be when they rise;

          thy servant let rejoice.

29   Let thou mine adversaries all

          with shame be clothed over;

     And let their own confusion

          them, as a mantle, cover.

30   But as for me, I with my mouth

          will greatly praise the Lord;

     And I among the multitude

          his praises will record.

31   For he shall stand at his right hand

          who is in poverty,

     To save him from all those that would

          condemn his soul to die.

1    When Isr’el out of Egypt went,

          and did his dwelling change,

     When Jacob’s house went out from those

          that were of language strange,

2    He Judah did his sanctuary,

          his kingdom Isr’el make:

3    The sea it saw, and quickly fled,

          Jordan was driven back.

4    Like rams the mountains, and like lambs

          the hills skipp’d to and fro.

5    O sea, why fledd’st thou? Jordan, back

          why wast thou driven so?

6    Ye mountains great, wherefore was it

          that ye did skip like rams?

     And wherefore was it, little hills,

          that ye did leap like lambs?

7    O at the presence of the Lord,

          earth, tremble thou for fear,

     While as the presence of the God

          of Jacob doth appear:

8    Who from the hard and stony rock

          did standing water bring;

     And by his pow’r did turn the flint

          into a water-spring.

1    My heart is fix’d, Lord; I will sing,

          and with my glory praise.

2    Awake up psaltery and harp;

          myself I’ll early raise.

3    I’ll praise thee ‘mong the people, Lord;

          ‘mong nations sing will I:

4    For above heav’n thy mercy’s great,

          thy truth doth reach the sky.

5    Be thou above the heavens, Lord,

          exalted gloriously;

     Thy glory all the earth above

          be lifted up on high.

6    That those who thy beloved are

          delivered may be,

     O do thou save with thy right hand,

          and answer give to me.

7    God in his holiness hath said,

          Herein I will take pleasure;

     Shechem I will divide, and forth

          will Succoth’s valley measure.

8    Gilead I claim as mine by right;

          Manasseh mine shall be;

     Ephraim is of my head the strength;

          Judah gives laws for me;

9    Moab’s my washing-pot; my shoe

          I’ll over Edom throw;

     Over the land of Palestine

          I will in triumph go.

10   O who is he will bring me to

          the city fortify’d?

     O who is he that to the land

          of Edom will me guide?

11   O God, thou who hadst cast us off,

          this thing wilt thou not do?

     And wilt not thou, ev’n thou, O God,

          forth with our armies go?

12   Do thou from trouble give us help,

          for helpless is man’s aid.

13   Through God we shall do valiantly;

          our foes he shall down tread.

1    Praise God, for he is good: for still

          his mercies lasting be.

2    Let God’s redeem’d say so, whom he

          from th’ en’my’s hand did free;

3    And gather’d them out of the lands,

          from north, south, east, and west.

4    They stray’d in desert’s pathless way,

          no city found to rest.

5    For thirst and hunger in them faints

6         their soul. When straits them press,

     They cry unto the Lord, and he

          them frees from their distress.

7    Them also in a way to walk

          that right is he did guide,

     That they might to a city go,

          wherein they might abide.

8    O that men to the Lord would give

          praise for his goodness then,

     And for his works of wonder done

          unto the sons of men!

9    For he the soul that longing is

          doth fully satisfy;

     With goodness he the hungry soul

          doth fill abundantly.

10   Such as shut up in darkness deep,

          and in death’s shade abide,

     Whom strongly hath affliction bound,

          and irons fast have ty’d:

11   Because against the words of God

          they wrought rebelliously,

     And they the counsel did contemn

          of him that is most High:

12   Their heart he did bring down with grief,

          they fell, no help could have.

13   In trouble then they cry’d to God,

          he them from straits did save.

14   He out of darkness did them bring,

          and from death’s shade them take;

     These bands, wherewith they had been bound,

          asunder quite he brake.

15   O that men to the Lord would give

          praise for his goodness then,

     And for his works of wonder done

          unto the sons of men!

16   Because the mighty gates of brass

          in pieces he did tear,

     By him in sunder also cut

          the bars of iron were.

17   Fools, for their sin, and their offence,

          do sore affliction bear;

18   All kind of meat their soul abhors;

          they to death’s gates draw near.

19   In grief they cry to God; he saves

          them from their miseries.

20   He sends his word, them heals, and them

          from their destructions frees.

21   O that men to the Lord would give

          praise for his goodness then,

     And for his works of wonder done

          unto the sons of men!

22   And let them sacrifice to him

          off ‘rings of thankfulness;

     And let them shew abroad his works

          in songs of joyfulness.

23   Who go to sea in ships, and in

          great waters trading be,

24   Within the deep these men God’s works

          and his great wonders see.

25   For he commands, and forth in haste

          the stormy tempest flies,

     Which makes the sea with rolling waves

          aloft to swell and rise.

26   They mount to heav’n, then to the depths

          they do go down again;

     Their soul doth faint and melt away

          with trouble and with pain.

27   They reel and stagger like one drunk,

          at their wit’s end they be:

28   Then they to God in trouble cry,

          who them from straits doth free.

29   The storm is chang’d into a calm

          at his command and will;

     So that the waves, which rag’d before,

          now quiet are and still.

30   Then are they glad, because at rest

          and quiet now they be:

     So to the haven he them brings,

          which they desir’d to see.

31   O that men to the Lord would give

          praise for his goodness then,

     And for his works of wonder done

          unto the sons of men!

32   Among the people gathered

          let them exalt his name;

     Among assembled elders spread

          his most renowned fame.

33   He to dry land turns water-springs,

          and floods to wilderness;

34   For sins of those that dwell therein,

          fat land to barrenness.

35   The burnt and parched wilderness

          to water-pools he brings;

     The ground that was dry’d up before

          he turns to water-springs:

36   And there, for dwelling, he a place

          doth to the hungry give,

     That they a city may prepare

          commodiously to live.

37   There sow they fields, and vineyards plant,

          to yield fruits of increase.

38   His blessing makes them multiply,

          lets not their beasts decrease.

39   Again they are diminished,

          and very low brought down,

     Through sorrow and affliction,

          and great oppression.

40   He upon princes pours contempt,

          and causeth them to stray,

     And wander in a wilderness,

          wherein there is no way.

41   Yet setteth he the poor on high

          from all his miseries,

     And he, much like unto a flock,

          doth make him families.

42   They that are righteous shall rejoice,

          when they the same shall see;

     And, as ashamed, stop her mouth

          shall all iniquity.

43   Whoso is wise, and will these things

          observe, and them record,

     Ev’n they shall understand the love

          and kindness of the Lord.