Iudica me Domine

Lord be my Judge and thou shalt see

Author: Thomas Sternhold
Published in 2 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Lord, be my Judge, and thou shalt see
my paths be right and plain:
I trust in God, and hope that he
with strength will me sustain.

2 Prove me, my God, I thee desire,
my ways to search and try;
As men do prove their gold with fire,
my heart and reins espy.

3 Thy loving-kindness in my sight
I do behold always;
I ever walked in thy truth,
and will do all my days.

4 I do not love to haunt or use
with men whose deeds are vain;
To come in house I do refuse
with the deceitful train.

5 I much abhor the wicked sort,
their deeds I do despise;
I do not once to them resort
that hurtful things devise.

6 My hands I wash, and do proceed
in works to walk upright;
Then to thy altar I make speed,
to offer there in sight:

7 That I may speak and preach the praise,
that doth belong to thee,
And so declare how wondrous ways
thou hast been good to me.

8 O God, thy house I love most dear,
to me it doth excel;
My chief delight is to be near
the place where thou dost dwell.

9 O shut not up my soul with them
in sin that take their fill,
Nor yet my life among those men
that seek much blood to spill.

10 For in their hands much mischief is,
their lives therewith abound,
And nothing else in their right hand,
but bribes are to be found.

11 But I resolve in righteousness
my time and days to spend:
Therefore that I may not transgress,
let thy grace me defend.

12 My foot is stay'd for all assays,
it standeth well and right:
Wherefore to God will I give praise
in all the people's sight.

Source: The Whole Book of Psalms #XXVI

Author: Thomas Sternhold

Thomas Sternhold was Groom of the Robes to Henry VIII and Edward VI. With Hopkins, he produced the first English version of the Psalms before alluded to. He completed fifty-one; Hopkins and others composed the remainder. He died in 1549. Thirty-seven of his psalms were edited and published after his death, by his friend Hopkins. The work is entitled "All such Psalms of David as Thomas Sternhold, late Groome of the King's Majestye's Robes, did in his Lyfetime drawe into Englyshe Metre." Of the version annexed to the Prayer Book, Montgomery says: "The merit of faithful adherence to the original has been claimed for this version, and need not to be denied, but it is the resemblance which the dead bear to the living." Wood, in his "Athe… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Lord be my Judge and thou shalt see
Title: Iudica me Domine
Author: Thomas Sternhold

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The Whole Book of Psalms #XXVI

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The Whole Booke of Psalmes #12a

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