LSB #699 "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 6:35; Matthew 11:28-29; John 7:37; 8:12

John 6:35:  "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'"

Matthew 11:28-29:  "28 'Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'"

John 7:37:  "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.'"

John 8:12:  "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"

+++

The text is public domain:

1 I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"Come unto Me and rest;

Lay down, thou weary one, lay down

They head upon My breast."

I came to Jesus, as I was,

So weary, worn, and sad;

I found in Him a resting place,

And He has made me glad.

2 I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"Behold, I freely give

The living water; thirsty one,

Stoop down and drink and live."

I came to Jesus, and I drank

Of that life-giving stream;

My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,

And now I live in Him.

3 I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"I am this dark world's light.

Look unto Me; thy morn shall rise

And all thy day be bright."

I looked to Jesus, and I found

In Him my star, my sun;

And in that light of life I'll walk

Till trav'ling days are done.

+++

The hymn's first verse is drawn from Matthew 11:28-29, and the third verse is drawn from John 8:12.  John 6:35 and 7:37 could be cited for the second verse, but the phrase "living water" seems to indicate John 4 as the source, specifically verses 10 and 14:  "10 Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. ... 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'"

"Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow"

Because this is a doxology, I went through it only once.  Also, this is the last tune in the book, so now I've completed this project.

Registration:

Upper:  42 8875 543

Lower:  00 5645 322

Pedal:  44

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Hammond XPK-130G pedals

"Allein zu dir" (TLH #319)

Transposed from F# minor to A minor

"Thy Table I Approach"

A couple months ago, I recorded The Lutheran Hymnal's arrangement of "St. Michael" (#310), the tune to which "Thy Table I Approach" is sung.  The text is basically the same as it appears in the more recent Lutheran Service Book (as "Your Table I Approach" #628), but there are a few differences.  I noticed a significant one.

The first verse ends with the lines "Oh, let no unrepented sin / Prove hurtful to me there!," sung to these phrases:

(In LSB, the text here is "Let not an unrepentant heart / Prove hurtful to me there.")

In the alto part, there's an accidental (D#) corresponding to "sin," musically giving something of a sense of its meaning.  Significantly, this is the only accidental in the entire arrangement.

Because this accidental occurs in the alto part, there may even be a sense of the speaker's ignorance of his sin.  The accidental is below the principal, soprano part in the same way that this particular sin is below the speaker's conscious level.  Taken in this way, it recalls Psalm 19:12:  "Who can discern his errors?  Declare me innocent from hidden faults."

For what it's worth:  in the Lutheran Worship version ("Your Table I Approach" #249), the lines "Oh, let no unrepented sin / Prove hurtful to me there" are retained, but the arrangement doesn't include an accidental here.

LSB #698 "May We Thy Precepts, Lord, Fulfill"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 6:10, Exodus 20:3-17

Matthew 6:10:  "'Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'"

Exodus 20:3-17:  "3 'You shall have no other gods before me.

"4 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"7 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

"8 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.  On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.  11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

"12 'Honor our father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

"13 'You shall not murder.

"14 'You shall not commit adultery.

"15 'You shall not steal.

"16 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

"17 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.'"

+++

The text is public domain:

1 May we Thy precepts, Lord, fulfill

And do on earth our Father's will

As angels do above;

Still walk in Christ, the living way,

With all Thy children and obey

The law of Christian love.

2 So may we join Thy name to bless,

Thy grace adore, Thy pow'r confess,

From sin and strife to flee.

One is our calling, one our name,

The end of all our hopes the same,

A crown of life with Thee.

3 Spirit of life, of love and peace,

Unite our hearts, our joy increase,

Thy gracious help supply.

To each of us the blessing give

In Christian fellowship to live,

In joyful hope to die.

+++

The passage from Exodus (the Ten Commandments) is cited apparently just to define "Thy precepts" in the first line.

Matthew 6:10 is referred to in the second line:  "And do on earth our Father's will."

The line "A crown of life with Thee" at the end of the second verse could come from either James 1:12 or Revelation 2:10.

The end of the second verse and the beginning of the third verse seem to come from part of Ephesians 4.  The line "One is our calling, one our name" in the hymn's second verse is similar to verses 4-6 ("4 There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."), and the lines "Spirit of life, of love and peace, / Unite our hearts" at the beginning of the hymn's third verse bear some resemblance to verse 3 ("eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.").

"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today"

In Bastien's book, this hymn has the title "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," but in The Lutheran Service Book, the text accompanying this tune ("Easter Hymn") is "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" (#457).  The two hymns in LSB that do begin with "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" (#463 and #469) have different tunes.

Registration:

Upper:  74 8745 325

Lower:  00 6543 322

Pedal:  55

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Hammond XPK-130G pedals

"Vater unser" (TLH #318)

I transposed this up a whole step, but I'm not sure what key it's in.

"May God Embrace Us with His Grace" (LW #288)

I wrote two posts about "May God Bestow on Us His Grace" as it appears in The Lutheran Service Book (#823 and #824), but it appears in a different translation as "May God Embrace Us with His Grace" in Lutheran Worship (#288).  The original hymn is by Martin Luther.  The LSB translation is by Richard Massie, and the LW translation is by F. Samuel Janzow.  While the tune ("Es wolle Gott uns gnädig sein") is the same, albeit in a different key, it emphasizes different parts of the LW translation.

Here are the first two musical phrases, which are also repeated as the third and fourth phrases:

In the second verse, the text here is:

All people living on his globe,

Praise God with exultation!

The world puts on a festive robe

And sings its jubilation

"Exultation" and "jubilation" are both sung with a melisma (C A G D F G E), musically giving a sense of this ebullience.

Near the end of the third verse, there's the line "May people ev'rywhere be won" (the sense is completed in the next line:  "To love and praise you truly"), sung to this phrase:

The three syllables of "ev'rywhere" are each sung to a different pitch (D A G), and this provides a sense of breadth.

The first verse ends with the lines "Let Jesus' healing power be / Revealed in richest measure, / Converting ev'ry nation."  The last line is sung to this phrase:

"Nation" is sung with a melisma, with each syllable sung to a different pitch (F G E), and these features give a sense of number or breadth (for "ev'ry").

LSB #697 "Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Ephesians 5:1-14; Ephesians 3:16-19; 4:3-6

Ephesians 5:1-14:  "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.

"3 But sexual immortality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.  4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.  5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light.  Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'"

Ephesians 3:16-19:  "16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 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."

Ephesians 4:3-6: "3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  4 There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

+++

The passage from Ephesians 5 is the primary source for the hymn text.  The end of verse 14 is paraphrased in the first half of the first verse ("Awake, O sleeper, rise from death, / And Christ shall give you light") and, along with verse 2, is referred to in the hymn's last verse ("For us Christ lived, and for us He died... Awake, arise, go forth in faith.").  Verse 2 also appears at the beginning of the third verse:  "Then walk in love as Christ has loved."

The passage from Ephesians 3 (specifically verses 18-19) is referred to at the end of the first verse:  "So learn His love, its length and breadth, / Its fullness, depth, and height."

The passage from Ephesians 4 (particularly verse 3) appears at the end of the second verse:  "He came... To give the Spirit's unity, / The very bond of peace."

"Holy, Holy, Holy"

Registration:

Upper:  42 8875 543

Lower:  00 5645 322

Pedal:  44

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Hammond XPK-130G pedals

"Ach Gott und Herr" (TLH #317)

"May God Bestow on Us His Grace" (LSB #824)

This is the second post on "May God Bestow on Us His Grace," specifically LSB #824, where the text is sung to the tune "Elvet Banks."

Here are the first two musical phrases:

In the second verse, the text here is "Thine over all shall be the praise / And thanks of ev'ry nation."  "Nation" is sung with a melisma (E F G), giving a sense of amount (for "ev'ry").  The three syllables are also sung to all different pitches, and this adds to the effect, providing a sense of breadth.

In the third verse, the text is "O let the people praise Thy worth, / In all good works increasing."  Here, "increasing" is sung with a melisma (F E F G), and since there's an extra syllable, there's a sense of the word's meaning.