Scripture Verse

He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:4

Introduction

Words: Ed­ith B. Spaul­ding, in The Song-Land Way, ed­it­ed by An­tho­ny Sho­wal­ter et al. (Dal­ton, Geor­gia: A. J. Sho­wal­ter, 1925), num­ber 2.

Music: Şan­lı­ur­fa An­tho­ny J. Sho­wal­ter (🔊 pdf nwc). Note: The pub­lished ver­sion of the re­frain can be awk­ward for con­gre­ga­tion­al sing­ing. Church­es want­ing to use this song might con­si­der omitt­ing or re-ar­rang­ing the re­frain.

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Spaul­ding (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Mos­ley,

portrait
Anthony J. Showalter (1858–1924)

Lyrics

O, thou mourn­ing one of Zi­on,
To the mount­ains lift thine eyes;
To the hills, be­yond whose bar­ri­er,
Fair the pro­mised Ca­naan lies.
Tho the dark­ness grow­eth deep­er,
Faint not as the sha­dows creep,
For the Lord, who is thy keep­er,
He will slum­ber not, nor sleep.

Refrain

O, then fear not, tho the sha­dows
Of the night lie dark and deep,
For He that keep­eth Is­ra­el
Shall slum­ber not, nor sleep.

O, thou wan­der­er who tread­est
Paths as trea­cher­ous as fair,
Never road so far can lead thee,
That thy Fa­ther will not care.
By eter­nal love con­strain­ing,
He will call His stray­ing sheep,
Lost? O no, the Lord is reign­ing,
He will slum­ber not, nor sleep.

Refrain

Thou who work­est for the Mas­ter,
Long and faith­ful, striv­ing still,
Who hast done His bid­ding brave­ly,
Yet the world must have its will—
Tho in tears may be the sow­ing,
Joys eter­nal thou shalt reap,
For, all-pitying, all-know­ing,
God will slum­ber not, nor sleep.

Refrain