Scripture Verse

Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. Psalm 96:10

Introduction

portrait
Ira D. Sankey (1840–1908)

Words: Fran­ces R. Hav­er­gal, Ap­ril 19, 1872. First pub­lished in Ev­en­ing Hours, 1872.

Music: Ira D. San­key, 1881 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

  • Epenetus Fran­ces R. Hav­er­gal (🔊 pdf nwc)
portrait
Frances R. Havergal
(1836–1879)

Origin of the Hymn

It was a sno­wy morn­ing, and Miss Hav­er­gal was not able to go to church. She was in bed, and asked for her Pray­er-book, as she al­ways liked to fol­low the ser­vic­es of the day.

On Mr. Shaw’s re­turn from church, he heard her touch on the pi­ano. Why, Fran­ces, I thought you were up­stairs! Yes; but I had my Pray­er-book, and in the Psalms for to-day, I read, Tell it out among the hea­then that the Lord is King. I thought, What a splen­did first line! and then words and mu­sic came rush­ing in to me. There, it’s all writ­ten out. With cop­per-plate neat­ness she had ra­pid­ly writ­ten out the words, mu­sic, and har­mo­nies com­plete.

Dr. James, Vi­car of North Mars­ton, says that Miss Hav­er­gal had ex­haust­ed her­self at a Som­er­set­shire gar­den par­ty, but hap­pened to ov­er­hear her hos­tess’s re­gret that the ser­vants had not been pre­sent. She ex­claimed, ‘Oh, if it is work for the Mas­ter, of course I can do it.

She was suf­fe­ring much from the sting of a bee, but threw off her hat and gloves, sat down at the pi­ano, and great­ly im­pressed ‘a whole re­ti­nue of ser­vants’ by sing­ing from the Mes­si­ah, ‘Come un­to Me, all ye that la­bor and are hea­vy lad­en, and I will give you rest.’ When all was done she stood up and said, ‘Now I am go­ing to tell you what you must do when you your­selves have ac­cept­ed the in­vi­ta­tion.’

She sang out be­fore her spell­bound au­di­ence, ‘Tell it out among the hea­then that the Lord is King’ to her own mu­sic. As they lin­gered she pro­mised to send each of them a co­py. Dr. James said that at least one per­son was turned to Christ by that mu­sic­al af­ter­noon.

Telford, p. 400

Lyrics

Tell it out among the hea­then
That the Lord is King;
Tell it out! Tell it out!
Tell it out among the na­tions,
Bid them shout and sing;
Tell it out! Tell it out!
Tell it out with ado­ra­tion
That He shall in­crease,
That the migh­ty King of Glo­ry
Is the King of Peace;
Tell it out with ju­bi­la­tion,
Let the song ne’er cease;
Tell it out! Tell it out!

Tell it out among the hea­then
That the Sav­ior reigns;
Tell it out! Tell it out!
Tell it out among the na­tions,
Bid them break their chains;
Tell it out! Tell it out!
Tell it out among the weep­ing
Ones that Je­sus lives,
Tell it out among the wea­ry
Ones what rest He gives,
Tell it out among the sin­ners
That He still re­ceives;
Tell it out! Tell it out!

Tell it out among the hea­then,
Jesus reigns above;
Tell it out! Tell it out!
Tell it out among the na­tions
That His reign is love;
Tell it out! Tell it out!
Tell it out among the high­ways
And the lanes at home,
Let it ring across the mount­ains
And the ocean’s foam,
Like the sound of many wa­ters,
Let our glad shout come!
Tell it out! Tell it out!