"Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus"

About a month ago, one of the hymns on Worship Anew was "Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus."  I noticed that the line "Full of faith and hope and love" in the first verse exhibits polysyndeton (the repeated "and") and that the repetition here provides a sense of this abundance (being "full").

I also found an uncited Biblical reference.  The lines "Though today we sow no laughter, / We shall reap celestial joy" in the second verse draw from Psalm 126:5:  "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!"

(Here's a link to my post on the other Biblical sources.)

LSB #798 "The God of Abraham Praise"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Exodus 3:6, 14; Psalm 142:5-6; Psalm 9:7-11; Revelation 4:8

Exodus 3:6:  "And he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God."

Exodus 3:14:  "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'  And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'"

Psalm 142:5-6:  "5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.'  6 Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low!  Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me!"

Psalm 9:7-11:  "7 But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, 8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

"9 The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

"11 Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!"

Revelation 4:8:  "And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!'"

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The text is public domain:

1 The God of Abr'ham praise,

Who reigns enthroned above;

Ancient of everlasting days

And God of love.

Jehovah, great I AM!

By earth and heav'n confessed;

I bow and bless the sacred name

Forever blest.

2 The God of Abr'ham praise,

At whose supreme command

From earth I rise and seek the joys

At His right hand.

I all on earth forsake,

Its wisdom, fame, and pow'r,

And Him my only portion make,

My shield and tow'r.

3 The God of Abr'ham praise,

Whose all-sufficient grace

Shall guide me all my pilgrim days

In all my ways.

He deigns to call me friend;

He calls Himself my God.

And He shall save me to the end

Through Jesus' blood.

4 He by Himself has sworn;

I on His oath depend.

I shall, on eagle wings upborne,

To heav'n ascend.

I shall behold His face;

I shall His pow'r adore

And sing the wonders of His grace

Forevermore.

5 Though nature's strength decay,

And earth and hell withstand,

To Canaan's bounds I urge my way

At His command.

The wat'ry deep I pass,

With Jesus in my view,

And through the howling wilderness

My way pursue.

6 The goodly land I see,

With peace and plenty blest:

A land of sacred liberty

And endless rest.

There milk and honey flow,

And oil and wine abound,

And trees of life forever grow

With mercy crowned.

7 There dwells the Lord our king,

The Lord our righteousness,

Triumphant o'er the world and sin,

The Prince of Peace.

On Zion's sacred height

His kingdom He maintains

And glorious with His saints in light

Forever reigns.

8 The God who reigns on high

The great archangels sing,

And "Holy, holy, holy!" cry,

"Almighty King!

Who was and is the same

And evermore shall be:

Jehovah, Father, great I AM!

We worship Thee!"

9 The whole triumphant host

Give thanks to God on high.

"Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"

They ever cry.

Hail, Abr'ham's God and mine!

I join the heav'nly lays:

All might and majesty are Thine

And endless praise!

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Exodus 3:6 appears in the repeated line "The God of Abr'ham praise" in the first three verses (which also incorporates "Sing praises to the LORD" from Psalm 9:11) and in the line "Hail, Abr'ham's God and mine!" in the ninth, and Exodus 3:14 appears in the lines "Jehovah, great I AM!" in the first verse and "Jehovah, Father, great I AM!" in the eighth.

Psalm 142:5-6, specifically "You are... my portion in the land of the living," appears in the line "And Him my only portion make" in the second verse.

The passage from Psalm 9, particularly "the LORD sits enthroned forever," shows up most clearly in the seventh and eighth verses:  "His kingdom He maintains / And glorious with His saints in light / Forever reigns. // The God who reigns on high."

Revelation 4:8 is the basis for most of the eighth verse, although there's also a resemblance to the seraphim in Isaiah 6:3:  "And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!'"  

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The title "Ancient of everlasting days" in the first verse comes from Daniel 7:13:  "'I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.'"

The line "My shield and tow'r" at the end of the second verse could come from the "refuge" or "stronghold" in the Psalms cited above, but this specific imagery is also prevalent in other Psalms.  God as a shield appears in Psalm 3:3, 28:7, 33:20, 84:11, and God as a tower appears in Psalm 61:3 and Proverbs 18:10.

The line "Whose all-sufficient grace" in the third verse seems to be drawn from 2 Corinthians 12:9:  "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'"

The line "He deigns to call me friend" in the third verse may refer to John 15:14-16:  "14 'You are my friends if you do what I command you.  15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.'"

The lines "I shall, on eagle wings upborne, / To heavn' ascend. / I shall behold His face" in the fourth verse seem to combine parts of Isaiah 40:31 ("but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles") and 1 Corinthians 13:12 ("For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.").

The description "There milk and honey flow" in the sixth verse occurs a number of times in the Pentateuch, first in Exodus 3:8:  "and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites."

In the seventh verse, the title "The Lord our righteousness" appears a couple times in Jeremiah (23:6 and 33:16), and the title "The Prince of Peace" is taken from Isaiah 9:6.

Most of the ninth verse seems to be drawn from Revelation 7, particularly verses 9-10:  "9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'"

"My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less"

One of the hymns in a church service I attended last month was "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" (paired with the tune "Magdalen").  I noticed a small feature in the last line of the third verse:  "He then is all my hope and stay," sung to this musical phrase:

"All" is sung to a dotted quarter note.  This is the longest note in the phrase, and to some degree, this greater duration lends a sense of the entirety of that "all."

LSB #797 "Praise the Almighty"

Biblical citation in the hymnal:  Psalm 146

Psalm 146:  "1 Praise the LORD!  Praise the LORD, O my soul!  2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

"3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.  4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

"5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.

"The LORD sets the prisoners free; 8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.  The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.  9 The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.  10 The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations.  Praise the LORD!"

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The text is public domain:

1 Praise the Almighty, my soul, adore Him!

Yes, I will laud Him until death;

With songs and anthems I come before Him

As long as He allows me breath.

From Him my life and all things came;

Bless, O my soul, His holy name.

Alleluia, alleluia!

2 Trust not in rulers; they are but mortal;

Earthborn they are and soon decay.

Vain are their counsels at life's last portal,

When the dark grave engulfs its prey.

Since mortals can no help afford,

Place all your trust in Christ, our Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia!

3 Blessed, oh, blessed are they forever

Whose help is from the Lord Most High,

Whom from salvation can nothing sever,

And who in hope to Christ draw night.

To all who trust in Him, our Lord

Will aid and counsel now afford.

Alleluia, alleluia!

4 Penitent sinners, for mercy crying,

Pardon and peace from Him obtain;

Ever the wants of the poor supplying,

Their faithful God He will remain.

He helps His children in distress,

The widows and the fatherless.

Alleluia, alleluia!

5 Praise, all you people, the name so holy

Of Him who does such wondrous things!

All that has being, to praise Him solely,

With happy heart its amen sings.

Children of God, with angel host

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Alleluia, alleluia!

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The hymn paraphrases Psalm 146.  The hymn's first verse comes from verses 1-2; the second verse from verses 3-4; the third verse from verse 5; the fourth verse from verses 7-9; and the fifth verse from verse 10.

"Spread the Reign of God the Lord"

Recently, I happened to see the title "Spread the Reign of God the Lord" and realized a way in which it connects to the melody to which it's sung, the first phrase of the tune "Gott sei Dank":

The phrase spans an octave, musically reflecting this idea of "spread[ing]."

LSB #796 "When in Our Music God Is Glorified"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Chronicles 16:4-36, 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, Colossians 3:16-17, Mark 14:26

1 Chronicles 16:4-36:  "4 Then he [David] appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel.  5 Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.  7 Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the LORD by Asaph and his brothers.

"8 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!  9 Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!  10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!  11 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!  12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgements he uttered, 13 O offspring of Israel his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!

"14 He is the LORD our God; his judgements are in all the earth.  15 Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, 16 the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, 17 which he confirmed as a statute to Jacob, as an everlasting covenant to Israel, 18 saying, 'To you I will give the land of Canaan, as your portion for an inheritance.'

"19 When you were few in number, and of little account, and sojourners in it, 20 wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, 21 he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, 22 saying, 'Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!'

"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.  27 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.  28 Ascribe to the LORD, O clans of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!  29 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him!  Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; 30 tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.  31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, 'The LORD reigns!'  32 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it!  33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.  34 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

"35 Say also:  'Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.  36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!'  Then all the people said, 'Amen!' and praised the LORD."

2 Chronicles 5:13-14:  "13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, 'For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,' the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God."

Colossians 3:16-17:  "16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Mark 14:26:  "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."

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The first three citations (1 Chronicles 16:4-36, 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, and Colossians 3:16-17) seem to be the basis for the fifth verse:  "Let ev'ry instrument be tuned for praise! / Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise! / And may God give us faith to sing always: / Alleluia!"

Mark 14:26 is referred to in the fourth verse:  "And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night / When utmost evil strove against the light?"

"Light of Light, O Sole-Begotten"

I was looking at "Light of Light, O Sole-Begotten" a couple months ago and found an-other small feature to note.  The second line of the second verse is "God created all we see," sung to this phrase from the tune "Westminster Abbey":

The phrase "all we see" is sung to notes of all different pitches (F# E D), lending something of a sense of this breadth or entirety, although the span is only a major third.