Scripture Verse

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether…in keeping of them there is great reward. Psalm 19:9–11

Introduction

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William Havergal (1793–1870)

Words: Ano­ny­mous, prob­ab­ly 6th Cen­tu­ry (De­us tuo­rum mi­li­tum). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale in The Hym­nal Not­ed, 1852–54 (orig­in­al­ly, O God, Thy Sol­diers’ Crown and Guard). Mo­di­fied in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern.

Music: Ba­va­ria ar­ranged by Will­iam H. Ha­ver­gal (1793–1870) in Old Church Psal­mo­dy, num­ber 6. Pos­si­bly from Preis, Lob, Ehr, Ruhm, in the Geist­reich­es Ge­sang­buch (Darm­stadt, Ger­ma­ny: 1698) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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John M. Neale (1818–1866)

Lyrics

O God, Thy sol­diers’ great re­ward,
Their por­tion, crown, and faith­ful Lord,
From all trans­gress­ions set us free
Who sing Thy mar­tyr’s vic­to­ry.

By wis­dom taught he learned to know
The van­ity of all below,
The fleet­ing joys of earth dis­dained,
And ev­er­last­ing glo­ry gained.

Right man­ful­ly his cross he bore,
And ran his race of tor­ments sore;
For Thee he poured his life away,
With Thee he lives in end­less day.

We there­fore pray Thee, Lord of love,
Regard us from Thy throne above;
On this Thy mar­tyr’s tri­umph day
Wash ev­ery stain of sin away.

All praise to God the Fa­ther be,
All praise, eter­nal Son, to Thee,
Whom with the Spir­it we adore
Forever and for­ev­er­more.