Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
now to his temple draw near;
praise him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
how thy desires ever have been
granted in what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew
what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
biddeth them cease,
turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.
Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
sheddeth his light,
chaseth the horrors of night,
saints with his mercy surrounding.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him.
Let the amen
sound from his people again,
gladly for all we adore him.
Words: Joachim Neander (1650-1680), 1680
trans. Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878), 1863;
Music: Lobe den Herren (also known as Praxis pietatis) (Stralsung Gesangbuch, 1665)
Note: There are some small variations in this and what we actually sang, but it's mostly right......
Thanks for posting this. It is the first hymn I remember learning to sing, standing next to my Mom in Mass.
SUCH a good hymn! Thanks for posting this. I haven't heard this in so long.
Just about the only good part of worship services at the gigantic Presbyterian church I went to through junior high and high school was the 100+ person choir. They used to sing this one.
Yay! We sang this one this weekend, too! And there was a FABULOUS descant that I got to... dream about doing. (We scrapped it at the last minute.) So I sang, as per soprano-usual, the melody. Sigh. But it's a great melody, indeed!!