Sing to the Lord

Representative Text

1 Sing to the Lord a joyful song,
lift up your hearts, your voices raise;
to us his gracious gifts belong,
to him our songs of love and praise.

2 For life and love, for rest and food,
for daily help and nightly care,
sing to the Lord, for he is good,
and praise his name, for it is fair.

3 For strength to those who on him wait
his truth to prove, his will to do,
sing to our God, for he is great,
trust in his name, for it is true.

4 For joys untold, that from above
cheer those who love his sweet employ,
sing to our God, for he is love;
exalt his name, for it is joy.

5 Sing to the Lord of heaven and earth,
whom angels serve and saints adore,
the Father, Son, and Spirit blest,
to whom be praise for evermore. Amen.

Source: Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #184

Author: John S. B. Monsell

John Samuel Bewley Monsell (b. St. Colomb's, Londonderry, Ireland, 1811; d. Guilford, Surrey, England, 1875) was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and served as a chaplain and rector of several churches in Ireland after his ordination in 1835. Transferred to England in 1853, he became rector of Egham in Surrey and was rector of St. Nicholas Church in Guilford from 1870 until his death (caused by a construction accident at his church). A prolific poet, Monsell published his verse in eleven volumes. His three hundred hymns, many celebrating the seasons of the church year, were issued in collections such as Hymns and Miscellaneous Poems (1837), Spiritual Songs (1857), Hymns of Love and Praise (1863), and The Parish Hymnal (1873). Bert P… Go to person page >

Notes

Sing to the Lord a joyful song. J. S. B. Monsell. [Morning.] This hymn, based on Ps. cxlv. 1, 2, appeared in his Hymns of Love and Praise, 1863, p. i. in 5 stanzas of 8 lines. It was repeated with slight variations in his Spiritual Songs, 1869, and again in his Parish Hymnal, 1873, No. 13. The text in common use, as in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Church Hymns, 1871; Thring's Collection, 1882, and others, is that of 1863.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

JORDAN (Barnby)

One of the 246 hymn tunes by Joseph Barnby (PHH 438), JORDAN was published in The Hymnary (1872) as a setting for "Sing to the Lord a Joyful Song." JORDAN contains several repeated phrases. Barnby originally composed the tune to be sung in harmony with phrases 5 and 7 sung in unison, although the fu…

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GONFALON ROYAL

Percy C. Buck (b. West Ham, Essex, England, 1871; d. Hindhead, Haslemere, Surrey, England, 1947), director of music at the well-known British boys' academy Harrow School, wrote GONFALON ROYAL for “The royal banners forward go” (gonfalon is an ancient Anglo-Norman word meaning banner). Buck publi…

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #6150
  • PDF (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer Score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 10 of 10)
Text

Church Hymnary (4th ed.) #184

TextPage Scan

Common Praise #570

Page Scan

Complete Mission Praise #929

Hymns and Psalms #17a

Hymns and Psalms #17b

Text

Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #184

Hymns of the Saints #55

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #6150

Text

The Irish Presbyterian Hymbook #126

Text

Worship (3rd ed.) #532

Include 86 pre-1979 instances
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