Scripture Verse

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1

Introduction

portrait
James Montgomery
(1771–1854)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: At­trib­ut­ed to James Mont­go­me­ry, 1822.

Music: El­ez Ben­ja­min F. Al­le­man, in Augs­burg Songs (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Lu­ther­an Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­ety, 1885), num­ber 2 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Al­le­man (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

O come let us sing to the Lord,
In God our sal­va­tion re­joice;
In psalms of thanks­giv­ing r­ecord
His praise with one spir­it, one voice!
For Je­ho­vah is king, and He reigns,
The God of all gods on His throne,
The strength of the hills He main­tains,
The ends of the earth are His own.

The sea is Je­ho­vah’s; He made
The tide its do­min­ion to know;
The land is Je­ho­vah’s; He laid
Its sol­id foun­da­tions be­low;
O come let us wor­ship and kneel
Before our cre­at­or, our God!
The peo­ple who serve Him with zeal,
The flock whom He guides with His rod.

As Mos­es the fa­thers of old
Through sea and the wil­der­ness led,
His won­der­ful works we be­hold,
With man­na from Hea­ven are fed;
Today, let us heark­en, to­day,
To the voice that speaks from ab­ove,
And all His com­mand­ments ob­ey,
For all His com­mand­ments are love.