The Church's Prayer under Affliction; or, The Vineyard of God Wasted

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Great Shepherd of Thine Israel

Author: Isaac Watts
Published in 92 hymnals

Printable scores: MusicXML, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

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Representative Text

1. Great Shepherd over Israel,
Who did between the cherubs dwell,
And led the tribes, your chosen sheep,
Safe thru' the desert and the deep.

2. Your Church is in the desert now;
Shine from on high and guide us through;
Turn us to you, your love restore;
We shall be saved and sigh no more.

3. Great God, whom heav’nly hosts obey,
How long shall we lament and pray,
And wait in vain your kind return?
How long shall your fierce anger burn?

4. Instead of wine and cheerful bread
Your saints with their own tears are fed:
Turn us to you, your love restore;
We shall be saved and sigh no more.

5. How did the spreading branches shoot
And bless the nations with the fruit!
But now, dear Lord, look down and see
Your mourning vine, that lovely tree.

6. Return, almighty God, return,
Nor let your bleeding vineyard mourn;
Turn us to you, your love restore;
We shall be saved and sigh no more.

7. Fair Branch, ordained of old to shoot
From David’s stock, from Jacob’s root;
Himself a noble vine, and we
The lesser branches of the tree.

8. Oh, for his sake, attend our cry,
Shine on your churches lest they die;
Turn us to you, your love restore;
We shall be saved and sigh no more.

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #5

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Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Great Shepherd of Thine Israel
Title:	The Church's Prayer under Affliction; or, The Vineyard of God Wasted
Author:	Isaac Watts
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Psalm 80
(hymns)

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Notes

Great Shepherd of Thine Israel. I. Watts. [Psalm lxxx.] Appeared in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719, in 12 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, "The Church's Prayer under Affliction; or, The Vineyard of God wasted." It is usually given in modern hymnals, both in Great Britain and America, in an abbreviated form, and sometimes as, "Great Leader of Thine Israel." In the Irvingite Hymns for the Use of the Churches, 1864, No. 68, stanzas v.-viii., slightly altered, are given as, "Lord, Thou hast planted with Thine hands." The opening lines of this version of Psalm lxxx.:—

”Great Shepherd of Thine Israel,
Who didst between the cherubs dwell,"

are from Sir J. Denham's version of the same Psalm, 1714.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

WARE (Kingsley)

DUKE STREET

First published anonymously in Henry Boyd's Select Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1793), DUKE STREET was credited to John Hatton (b. Warrington, England, c. 1710; d, St. Helen's, Lancaster, England, 1793) in William Dixon's Euphonia (1805). Virtually nothing is known about Hatton, its composer,…

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REDEMPTION GROUND

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