Friday, August 04, 2023

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

60 Lobe den Herrn 14. 14. 4. 7. 8.

1 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!

2 Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
   shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth.
   Hast thou not seen
   how thy desires e'er have been
   granted in what He ordaineth?

3 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.
                         Joachim Neander
                         Translated by Catherine Winkworth
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1939 edition

<idle musing>
The Methodist Book of Hymns from 1964 adds a fourth verse:

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 forever adore Him.
It seems that there are various other versions out there. Hymnary.org is a good place to start (the first three search results on that page—choose compare texts after clicking on one; I used the second one). They even have the original German version if you want to compare how the various English attempts stack up!

You might also want to click the link to the author. He lived a short, but interesting life, being converted while attending church for the purpose of heckling the preacher!
</idle musing>

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