"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!"

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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!

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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.

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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."

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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."

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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.

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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"

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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.