text adapted from Psalm 65 by Jon F. Caudle, Jr.
Copyright © 2006 by Jon F. Caudle, Jr.
Link to sheet music available here.
this Psalm begins with an expression of the praise and vow-keeping due to the God who hears the prayers of his people, and who has called them out to draw near to him and abide in the place of worship, and forgives their sin when transgressions are accosting them. It closes with a recounting of the blessings of God who comes to the earth and causes the rain and fills the meadows and pastures abundantly with the bounty of heaven, resulting in praise coming forth from the earth, and the heavens, and (of course) the people of God who sing the psalm.
Stanza 1
1.Praise is due You, God in Zion;
To You shall vows be performed.
2.Unto You, who hears our pray-ers,
Unto You shall all flesh come.
3.When transgression overcomes us,
You atone for all our sin.
4.Bless'd is he You choose and bring near,
For Your courts he shall dwell in.
Stanza 2
We, the ones who dwell in Your courts,
Shall be satisfied and blessed
With the goodness found in Your house,
By Your temple's holiness.
5.Saving God, You answer us with
Righteousness and awesome deeds,
Hope of all the ends of earth, and
Hope of even farthest seas.
Stanza 3
6.Being clothed with might, You have
Established mountains by Your strength,
7.Stilled the tumult of the peoples,
Calmed the roaring waves and seas.
8.So that those who dwell at earth's ends
Stand in awe at all Your signs.
Morning's dawn and ev'ning's sunset
Shout for joy by Your design.
Stanza 4
9.You come to the earth with water,
Its great riches thus You share.
Your great river overflows,
Provides the grain that you prepare.
10.You have watered all its furrows,
All its ridges settled low.
You have softened it with showers,
You, indeed, have blessed its growth.
Stanza 5
11.You have crowned the year with bounty.
Your path, with abundance, flows.
12.Wi-ld pastures flow with plenty;
Hills, themselves, with joy are clothed.
13.Meadows gird themselves with flocks, and
Valleys deck themselves with grain.
They lift up their voices shouting;
They, for joy, sing unrestrained.
the meter of this psalm is 8.7.8.7.D. This means that in addition to the new tune provided at the link listed above, it can also be sung to any tune with that meter, including Beethoven's ODE TO JOY (Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee), Haydn's AUSTRIAN HYMN (Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken), and Pritchard's HYFRYDOL (Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners)
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3 comments:
Not being able to read music for beans, I just sang this to the tune of Ode to Joy which you suggested. Lovely, and such a fitting accompaniment to a beautiful Lord's Day afternoon in which the weather is more than pleased to give us a foretaste of the spring to come. Thank you for sharing! P.S. Any progress on those guitar chords? :)
This is a lovely music study blog. When I sang in the boys choir in youth, I learned metering notation, and it has been with me all these years.
I am definitely interested in seeing more of this kind of music theory education to advance the work of worship.
I write on Reformed things of interest on The Village Green blog, and am studying the rise of Reformed liturgy. I am most interested in writing on music theory, Psalms, etc. and how to communicate well this joy in life, particularly to youth.
My recent interest has been in the Magnificat. Apparently, some work has been done studying a sound translation of the Magnificat, and we have had soloists perform it. It is beautiful.
http://vicusviridis.blogspot.com/
So far this is my favorite of yours jfc!
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