"Have No Fear, Little Flock"

In the fourth verse of "Have No Fear, Little Flock," there's the repeated line "Thankful hearts raise to God."  A couple months ago, I discovered that this is at least related to, if not directly drawn from, part of Colossians 3:16:  "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."

Here's a link to my post on the hymn's Biblical sources.

LSB #735 "Have No Fear, Little Flock"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Luke 12:32, Matthew 25:34, Psalm 103:3-5, Matthew 28:20b

Luke 12:32:  "'Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.'"

Matthew 25:34:  "'Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."'"

Psalm 103:3-5:  "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."

Matthew 28:20b:  "'And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'"

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Luke 12:32 is paraphrased in the first verse ("Have no fear, little flock, / For the Father has chosen / To give you the Kingdom"), and Matthew 25:34 is also incorporated.

The passage from Psalm 103, particularly "who heals all your diseases," appears in the lines "For He stoops down to heal you, / Uplift and restore you" in the third verse.

Matthew 28:20b is rendered as "For He stays close beside you" in the fourth verse.

"Have No Fear, Little Flock"

A couple months ago, I happened to think of "Have No Fear, Little Flock," and I realized that there are some connections between the text and the tune (titled just "Little Flock").

The first musical phrase ascends:

In the third verse, the text sung to that phrase is "Praise the Lord high above," and in the fourth, "Thankful hearts raise to God."  The phrases deal with height and raising, which the musical ascent represents.

The text for the second half of the third verse is "For He stoops down to heal you, / Uplift and restore you."  For both of these phrases, there are melodic representations.  "For He stoops down to heal you" is sung to a descending phrase:

And the two syllables of "Uplift" (the first two notes in the phrase) form a rising sixth (Eb to C):