"If God Himself Be for Me"

Last month, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 2 May, in which the hymn was "If God Himself Be for Me."  I noticed some phrases in the hymn text that seem to be borrowed from Biblical passages but which I didn't include in my post on the Biblical sources for the hymn.  Even if I recognized them at the time, I may have thought that the contexts in which they appear are too different to constitute them as actual sources, but I felt now that I should note them anyway.

Here's the sixth verse:

Who clings with resolution

To Him whom Satan hates

Must look for persecution;

For him the burden waits

Of mock'ry, shame, and losses

Heaped on his blameless head;

A thousand plagues and crosses

Will be his daily bread.

An expression similar to "heaped on his blameless head" occurs in Proverbs 25:21-22:  "21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, 22 for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you."  This is also quoted in Romans 12:20.

The phrase "daily bread" appears in Matthew 6:11 ("'Give us this day our daily bread'") and Luke 11:3 ("'Give us each day our daily bread'").

LSB #790 "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Chronicles 16:23-26; Psalm 103:1-11; 106:48

1 Chronicles 16:23-26:  "23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth!  Tell of his salvation from day to day.  24 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!  25 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods.  26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens."

Psalm 103:1-11:  "1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!  2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

"6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.  7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.  8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.  10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him"

Psalm 106:48:  "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  And let all the people say, 'Amen!'  Praise the LORD!"

+++

The text is public domain:

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

O my soul, praise Him, for He is your health and salvation!

Let all who hear

Now to His temple draw near,

Joining in glad adoration!

2 Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things is wondrously reigning

And, as on wings of an eagle, uplifting, sustaining.

Have you not seen

All that is needful has been

Sent by His gracious ordaining?

3 Praise to the Lord, who has fearfully, wondrously, made you,

Health has bestowed and, when heedlessly falling, has stayed you.

What need or grief

Ever has failed of relief?

Wings of His mercy did shade you.

4 Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you;

Surely His goodness and mercy shall daily attend you.

Ponder anew

What the Almighty can do

As with His love He befriends you.

5 Praise to the Lord!  O let all that is in me adore Him!

All that has life and breath, come now with praises before Him!

Let the Amen

Sound from His people again;

Gladly forever adore Him!

+++

All of the cited passages appear in the repeated "Praise to the Lord."  Parts of Psalm 103 also appear elsewhere:  "all that is within me, bless his holy name" in verse 1 is the basis for "O let all that is in me adore Him!" in the hymn's fifth verse, and verse 5 is referred to in the line "And, as on wings of an eagle, uplifting, sustaining" in the hymn's second verse.

+++

The line "Praise to the Lord, who has fearfully, wondrously, made you" at the beginning of the third verse comes from Psalm 139:14:  "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

The line "Wings of His mercy did shade you" at the end of the third verse could refer to a number of verses in the Psalms, but it bears the most resemblance to Psalm 63:7:  "for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy."

The line "Surely His goodness and mercy shall daily attend you" in the fourth verse is drawn from Psalm 23:6:  "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

The line "All that has life and breath, come now with praises before Him!" in the fifth verse paraphrases Psalm 150:6:  "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!  Praise the LORD!"

"For the Fruits of His Creation"

I was looking at "For the Fruits of His Creation" last month and noticed a small feature.  The third and fourth lines of the first verse are "For His gifts to ev'ry nation, / Thanks be to God," sung to these musical phrases from the tune "Ar hyd y nos":

The phrase "ev'ry nation" is sung to notes of all different pitches (A G F# D), giving a sense of number.

LSB #789 "Praise and Thanksgiving"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Ephesians 5:19-20; Psalm 105:1-2; 107:31-38

Ephesians 5:19-20:  "19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"

Psalm 105:1-2:  "1 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!  2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!"

Psalm 107:31-38:  "31 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!  32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

"33 He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, 34 a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants.  35 He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.  36 And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; 37 they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield.  38 By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish."

+++

All of the cited passages are combined in the first two lines:  "Praise and thanksgiving, / Father, we offer."  The passage from Psalm 107 is the main source for the hymn, though; verse 37 seems to be the basis for the second half of the first verse:  "Harvest of sown fields, / Fruits of the orchard, / Hay from the mown fields, / Blossom and wood."

"Come, Ye Thankful People, Come"

I've written about small features in "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" twice before, but I found an-other one when I was looking at the hymn a couple months ago.  The third verse begins with the lines "For the Lord, our God, shall come / And shall take His harvest home, / From His field shall in that day / All offenses purge away."  The third and fourth lines are sung to these musical phrases from the tune "St. George's, Windsor":

The phrase "all offenses" is sung to notes of all different pitches (spanning a fifth:  A B C F), providing a sense of this entirety.  Since one of these notes is an accidental (a B natural in F major), there's an even greater sense of totality or, alternatively, a sense of the meaning of "offenses."

LSB #788 "Forgive Us, Lord, for Shallow Thankfulness"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Philippians 1:9-11, Ephesians 4:32-5:2, Romans 2:4, Galatians 6:9-10

Philippians 1:9-11:  "9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

Ephesians 4:32-5:2:  "32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.   2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Romans 2:4:  "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

Galatians 6:9-10:  "9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

+++

Philippians 1:9-11, specifically the "knowledge and all discernment," seems to appear in the lines "Open our eyes to see Your love's intent, / To know with minds and hearts its depth and height" in the sixth verse.  These lines also draw from Ephesians 3:17-19:  "17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Being "imitators of God" from Ephesians 5:1 may appear in the lines "Teach us, O Lord, true thankfulness divine, / That gives as Christ gave, never counting cost" in the fourth verse.

Romans 2:4 informs the hymn generally and appears throughout in the various instances of "Forgive us, Lord, for...."

"Do[ing] good" in the passage from Galatians 6 seems to appear in the line "May thankfulness be days in service spent" in the sixth verse.

"Awake, My Heart, with Gladness"

A couple years ago, I wrote a post about some small features in "Awake, My Heart, with Gladness," but when it was the hymn in a Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service last month (on 1 May), I found a couple more.

The hymn is sung to the tune "Auf, auf, mein Herz."  Here's the fourth musical phrase:

In the third verse, the text here is "The joy within my heart" (continuing the sense from the previous line:  "Now nothing ever saddens").  "Joy" is sung with a melisma (B C#), lending a sense of this ebullience.

In the sixth verse, the text is "Whate'er He passes through" (again continuing the sense from the previous line:  "My Lord will leave me never").  "Whate'er" is sung with a melisma, and each note is a different pitch (A B C#).  Both aspects of this articulation provide a sense of breadth.

+++

I wrote about the Biblical sources for the hymn text before, but I also noticed that the line "He who is strong to save" in the second verse bears some resemblance to part of Psalm 31:2:  "Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!"

LSB #787 "The Temple Rang with Golden Coins"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Mark 12:41-44, Hebrews 10:4-12

Mark 12:41-44:  "41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.  Many rich people put in large sums.  42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.  43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.  44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.'"

Hebrews 10:4-12:  "4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

"5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 'Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.  7 Then I said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book."'  8 When he said above, 'You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings' (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, 'Behold, I have come to do your will.'  He does away with the first in order to establish the second.  10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

"11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.  12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God"

+++

The text from Mark is paraphrased in the first three verses of the hymn (roughly, the hymn's first verse corresponds to verse 41; the second to verse 42; and the third to verses 43-44).  The text from Hebrews, especially verse 10, is the basis for the hymn's fourth verse.

"With High Delight Let Us Unite"

A few weeks ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 30 April, which was a lessons and carols sort of service with an Easter theme.  One of the hymns was "With High Delight Let Us Unite."  I wrote about some features in this hymn before, but I found a new one.

The first verse ends with the lines "Forever, He / Is ris'n and sends / To all earth's ends / Good news to save ev'ry nation."  The phrase "all earth's ends" is sung to notes of all different pitches (F# G A), giving a sense of this breadth.  Here's the musical phrase to which that line is sung, from the tune "Mit Freuden zart":

LSB #786 "Lord of All Good"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Romans 12:1, 1 Peter 4:10-11

Romans 12:1:  "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

1 Peter 4:10-11:  "10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:   11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies - in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.  To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen."

+++

1 Peter 4:10-11 appears in the first two verses of the hymn, most clearly in the first line of the first verse ("Lord of all good, our gifts we bring You now") and the last line of the second ("Thus for Your glory all our pow'rs combine"), and Romans 12:1 is paraphrased in the last line of the third verse ("To You [the Trinity] with grateful hearts ourselves we give").  The image of the body as a "living sacrifice" from Romans 12:1 and the various gifts and service from 1 Peter 4:10-11 are also combined in the second verse:  "We give our minds to understand Your ways; / Hands, eyes, and voice to serve Your great design; / Hearts with the flame of Your own love ablaze."

"O Sons and Daughters of the King"

A few weeks ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 29 April.  The hymn was "O Sons and Daughters of the King" (LSB #471, paired with the tune "O filii et filiae"), and I noticed a couple small features to note.

Here's the first musical phrase:

In the ninth verse, the text here is "On this most holy day of days."  "Holy" is sung with a melisma (D C Bb), giving a sense of the modifying "most" (more notes for the superlative degree).

The third musical phrase:

In the third verse, the text here is what the angel says to the women at the tomb:  "Your Lord will go to Galilee."  "Go" is sung with a melisma (G F), giving a slight sense of this movement.

LSB #785 "We Praise You, O God"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Psalm 107:31-32; Psalm 44:1-8; 95:1-7

Psalm 107:31-32:  "31 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!  32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders."

Psalm 44:1-8:  "1 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:  2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; 3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.

"4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!  5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.  6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.  7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.  8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever."

Psalm 95:1-7:  "1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!  2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!  3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.  5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

"6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our maker!  7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.  Today, if you hear his voice,"

+++

The text is public domain:

1 We praise You, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;

In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.

We lay it before You, we kneel and adore You;

We bless Your holy name, glad praises we sing.

2 We worship You, God of our fathers, we bless You;

Through trial and tempest our guide You have been.

When perils o'ertake us, You will not forsake us,

And with Your help, O Lord, our struggles we win.

3 With voices united our praises we offer

And gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.

With You, Lord, beside us, Your strong arm will guide us.

To You, our great Redeemer, forever be praise!

+++

The passages from the Psalms have similar themes (thanksgiving and praise), but there are some elements in the hymn that can be traced to a specific passage.

The title "Creator" in the first verse alludes to Psalm 95:5 ("The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land."), and the kneeling ("we kneel and adore You") comes from Psalm 95:6 ("let us kneel before the LORD, our maker!").  The title "God of our fathers" in the second verse seems to allude to Psalm 44:1 ("O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old."), and the "trial and tempest" and "perils" in the second verse and God's "strong arm" in the third also come from the passage from Psalm 44, especially verses 2-3.  The "voices united" in "songs of thanksgiving" at the beginning of the third verse come from Psalm 95:1-2 ("let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise... with thanksgiving").

The passage from Psalm 107 seems to appear only generally.