Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#131

131. LORD, My Heart Is Humbled Now

Text Information

• First Line: LORD, my heart is humbled now
• Title: LORD, My Heart Is Humbled Now
• Versifier: Calvin Seerveld (1982)
• Meter: 77 77
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 131
• Topic: Trust in God; Humility; Lord's Supper
• Copyright: © Calvin Seerveld

Tune Information

• Name: AUS DER TIEFE
• Composer (attr.): Martin Herbst (1676)
• Meter: 77 77
• Key: d minor

Text Information:

A profession of childlike trust in the LORD.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-2a
st. 2 = vv. 2b-3

Psalm 131 is one of the fifteen "Songs of Ascents" (120-134) sung by the Israelites as they went up to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. The placement of this profession of childlike trust in God immediately after Psalm 130 seems deliberate. Here faith renounces all claims to heroic self-reliance: the psalmist rests in the LORD (st. 1) like a babe in its mother's arms and exhorts all God's people to do the same (st. 2). Calvin Seerveld (PHH 22) versified this psalm in 1982 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
Confessions of humble trust in the Lord (130 and 131 can frame a service of confession); many other occasions in Christian worship.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

AUS DER TIEFE (also called HEINLEIN) was published in the Nürnbergisches Gesang-Buch (1676-77) as a setting for Christoph Schwamlein's text based on Psalm 130 "Aus der Tiefe rufe ich" ("Out of the Depths I Cry"). In that songbook the tune was attributed to "M. H.," initials that are generally accepted to refer to Martin Herbst (b. Rothenbach, Germany, 1654; d. Eisleben, Germany, 1681). Herbst was educated in theology and philosophy at the universities of Altdorf and Jena. In 1680 he became rector of the gymnasium (high school) and pastor of St. Andrew Church in Eisleben. The following year he died of the plague.

In the Psalter Hymnal, AUS DER TIEFE is in isorhythm, but its harmonization helps to keep it a "humble handmaiden" for the psalm text. Sing the tune in parts, and add a Picardy third on the final chord of stanza 2. The key and opening notes are the same as in Psalm 130; they share the same key and opening notes.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook