Scripture Verse

Withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth continually preserve me. Psalm 40:11

Introduction

Words: From The Psal­ter (Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia: Unit­ed Pres­by­te­ri­an Board of Pub­li­ca­tion, 1912), num­ber 110. This source in­di­cates the words are stan­zas 12–17 of a larg­er hymn, but does not give the ti­tle of the orig­in­al.

Music: Ruth (Harts­horn) W. Ir­ving Harts­horn (1832–1913) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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

Lyrics

Thy ten­der mer­cies, O my Lord,
Withhold not, I im­plore;
But let Thy kind­ness and Thy truth
Preserve me ev­er­more.
For count­less ills have com­passed me,
My sin­ful deeds arise;
Yea, they have ov­er­tak­en me;
I dare not raise my eyes.

My sins are more than I can count,
My heart has failed for grief;
Be pleased, O Lord, to res­cue me,
O haste to my re­lief.
Be those who seek to hurt my soul
Dismayed and put to flight,
And they them­selves be put to shame
Who in my woe de­light.

Let all who seek Thee now re­joice,
Yea, glad in Thee abide,
And, lov­ing Thy sal­va­tion, say,
The Lord be mag­ni­fied.
My low­ly state and bit­ter need
The Lord has not for­got;
Thou art my Sav­ior and my help,
Come, Lord, and tar­ry not.