Sing to the Lord; invoke his sacred name

Verse 1

Sing to the Lord; invoke his sacred name; His glorious acts to all the earth proclaim;

Verse 2

Our dread Jehovah claims your noblest lays; Loud let th' exulting tribes chant forth his praise.

Verse 3

Let his great name employ the grateful voice; Let all, that love his name, sincere rejoice:

Verse 4

With firmest heart on his blest pow'r rely; His presence ask--'twill ev'ry want supply.

Verse 5

Reflect the works of his almighty hand, Th' observance that his sacred laws command.

Verse 6

To you, blest Abr'ham's race, I speak alone, To you whom he hath deign'd to call his own.

Verse 7

He is our king, e'en he th' almighty God; Who to th' astonish'd earth his truth hath shew'd,

Verse 8

Firm to his covenant he 'as long remain'd, Which for a thousand ages he ordain'd;

Verse 9

Which he with Abr'ham made in days of yore, To which with Isaac solemnly he swore,

Verse 10

Which Jacob heard confirm'd, and which shall bless, Inviolate, to endless time, his race.

Verse 11

"To thee (he said) rich Canaan's lands I'll give, "Thou in her fertile plains shalt ever live:"

Verse 12

E'en then, when yet they were but strangers there, And weak their pow'r, and few their numbers were;

Verse 13

When they, as heav'n ordain'd, poor wand'rers, rov'd From place to place, and had no fix'd abode.

Verse 14

Yet them in peace his goodness still maintain'd; The cruel rage of threat'ning kings restrain'd,

Verse 15

And bad them not those favour'd tribes oppress, Whom with peculiar love he chose to bless.

Verse 16

When a dire famine sore distrest the land, And scarce th' enfeebled nations life sustain'd,

Verse 17

Fair Rachel's favour'd son he sent, a slave, To those glad lands, Nile's fertile waters lave.

Verse 18

There long in prison, long in chains, he lay, 'Til heav'n it's mercy to him did display,

Verse 19

Dreams to interpret, gave the wond'rous pow'r, And taught, the scheme of providence t' explore.

Verse 20

This heard the king; he set the pris'ner free, 'Twas Egypt's monarch gave him liberty.

Verse 21

He made a bond-slave ruler o'er his land; O'er all the palace his was the command;

Verse 22

That next in honour to his prince he stood, While all the nobles with obeisance bow'd.

Verse 23

'Twas then that Israel into Egypt came, And sojourn'd in the fruitful plains of Ham:

Verse 24

Our God his people 'bove the natives blest; That soon in pow'r, in numbers, they increas'd.

Verse 25

This saw th' Egyptian monarch with regret, And strait fell on the favour'd tribes his hate:

Verse 26

Long suffer'd they, when their almighty friend Did Humble Moses to their succour send.

Verse 27

Aaron and he by their dread wonders prove, That they had their commission from above.

Verse 28

Nature obeys, at once, their great command; A gloomy darkness shrouds th' astonish'd land;

Verse 29

Their streams polluted, flow with fetid gore, And all their fish lie dead upon the shore:

Verse 30

Not now the soil it's glad'ning produce yields, But frogs infest their palaces and fields.

Verse 31

In swarms unnumber'd rang'd the noisome flies, And all their coasts are cover'd o'er with lice.

Verse 32

The kindly rains enrich their glebe no more, But storms of hail and flame around them pour.

Verse 33

Their vines no more the chearful juice supply, And trees, fruits, flow'rs, in one wild ruin lie.

Verse 34

In flights the locusts and the beetles come, And, what the hail hath left them, they consume;

Verse 35

So that not food for sustenance remains, But one wild desolation fills the plains.

Verse 36

Nay; more t' enhance their fatal miseries, The favour'd son, the dear-lov'd first born, dies.

Verse 37

At last the humbled tyrant lets us go; A joy sincere his ruin'd people shew;

Verse 38

While we depart, of countless wealth possest, With nervous strength, with sprightly vigour, blest.

Verse 39

By a dun cloud he leads us in the day; By night a glitt'ring shine directs our way:

Verse 40

We ask, and strait we're fed with bread from heav'n; We ask, and birds of richest taste are giv'n.

Verse 41

The rock he smote, and strait the waters came, Free as a riv'let, gush'd the slaking stream.

Verse 42

For he his faithful Abr'ham not forgot, Nor wou'd he bring his promises to nought;

Verse 43

His gracious goodness pointed them the road; With joy they follow'd their directing God.

Verse 44

The heathen's lands he gave them to possess; And all the produce of their toils in peace;

Verse 45

That they his holy statutes might obey, And never from his dread commandments stray.