English metrical New Version (Tate/Brady)
English text
First Part
1 Let all the just to God with joy
Their cheerful voices raise,
For well the righteous it becomes
To sing glad songs of praise.
2,3 Let harps, and psalteries, and lutes
In joyful concert meet,
And new-made songs of loud applause
The harmony complete.
4,5 For faithful is the word of God,
His works with truth abound;
He justice loves, and all the earth
Is with his goodness crown'd.
6 By his Almighty word at first
The heavenly arch was rear'd,
And all the beauteous hosts of light
At this command appear'd.
7 The swelling floods, together rolled,
He makes in heaps to lie;
And lays, as in a storehouse, safe,
The wat'ry treasures by.
8,9 Let earth and all that dwell therein
Before him trembling stand;
For when he spake the world 'twas made,
'Twas fix'd at his command.
10 He, when the heathen closely plot,
Their counsels undermines,
His wisdom ineffectual makes
The people's rash designs.
11 Whate'er the mighty Lord decrees
Shall stand for ever sure;
The settled purpose of his heart
To ages shall endure.
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Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - First part, Common Meter
English text
1 Rejoice, ye righteous, in the Lord,
This work belongs to you:
Sing of his name, his ways, his word,
How holy, just and true.
2 His mercy and his righteousness
Let heav'n and earth proclaim:
His works of nature and of grace
Reveal his wondrous name.
3 His wisdom and almighty word
The heav'nly arches spread,
And by the Spirit of the Lord
Their shining hosts were made.
4 He bid the liquid waters flow,
To their appointed deep;
The flowing seas their limits know
And their own station keep.
5 Ye tenants of the spacious earth,
With fear before him stand;
He spake, and nature took its birth,
And rests on his command.
6 He scorns the angry nations' rage,
And breaks their vain designs;
His counsel stands through every age,
And in full glory shines.
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Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - Second part, Common Meter
English text
1 Blest is the nation where the Lord
Hath fix'd his gracious throne;
Where he reveals his heav'nly word,
And calls their tribes his own.
2 His eye, with infinite survey,
Does the whole world behold;
He form'd us all of equal clay,
And knows our feeble mould.
3 Kings are not rescu'd by the force
Of armies from the grave;
Nor speed nor courage of an horse
Can the bold rider save.
4 Vain is the strength of beasts or men,
To hope for safety thence;
But holy souls from God obtain
A strong and sure defence.
5 God is their fear, and God their trust,
When plagues or famine spread,
His watchful eye secures the just
Among ten thousand dead.
6 Lord, let our hearts in thee rejoice,
And bless us from thy throne;
For we have made thy word our choice,
And trust thy grace alone.
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