Scripture Verse

The Lord our God be with us. 1 Kings 8:57

Introduction

portrait
Friedrich F. Flemming (1778–1813)

Words: Pe­trus Her­bert, 1566 (Die Nacht ist kom­men drin wir ru­hen sol­len). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­the­rine Wink­worth, The Cho­rale Book for Eng­land, 1863, num­ber 170.

Music: Flem­ming Fried­rich F. Flem­ming, 1811 (🔊 pdf nwc). Flem­ming wrote this tune for male voic­es for part of Hor­ace’s ode In­te­ger Vit­ae. It was first pub­lished as a hymn tune in the 1875 edi­tion of the Con­gre­ga­tion­al Psalm­ist.

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878)

Lyrics

Now God be with us,
For the night is clos­ing:
The light and dark­ness
Are of His dis­pos­ing,
And ’neath His sha­dow
Here to rest we yield us,
For He will shield us.

Let ev­il thoughts and
Spirits flee be­fore us;
Till morn­ing com­eth,
Watch, O Mas­ter, o’er us;
In soul and bo­dy
Thou from harm de­fend us,
Thine an­gels send us.

Let ho­ly thoughts be
Ours when sleep o’er­takes us,
Our ear­li­est thoughts be
Thine when morn­ing wakes us,
All day serve Thee,
In all that we are do­ing,
Thy praise pur­su­ing.

As Thy be­lov­èd,
Soothe the sick and weep­ing,
And bid the pri­son­er
Lose his griefs in sleep­ing;
Widows and or­phans,
We to Thee com­mend them,
Do Thou be­friend them.

We have no re­fuge,
None on earth to aid us,
Save Thee, O Fa­ther,
Who Thine own hast made us;
But Thy dear pre­sence
Will not leave them lone­ly
Who seek Thee on­ly.

Father, Thy name be
Praised, Thy king­dom giv­en,
Thy will be done
On earth as ’tis in Hea­ven;
Keep us in life,
Forgive our sins, de­liv­er
Us now and ev­er!