Scripture Verse

Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah. Isaiah 62:4

Introduction

portrait
Elisha A. Hoffman (1839–1929)

Words: Eli­sha A. Hoff­man, 1888. Pub­lished in Liv­ing Hymns, by John N. Wa­na­ma­ker & John R. Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1890), page 7.

Music: Ki­ga­li Jo­seph Gar­ri­son (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

I am pass­ing down the val­ley
That they say is so lone,
But I find that all the path­way
Is with flow­ers ov­er­grown;
’Tis to me the vale of Beu­lah,
’Tis a beau­ti­ful way,
For the Sav­ior walks be­side me,
My com­pan­ion all day.

Refrain

Vale of Beu­lah! Vale of Beu­lah!
Thou art pre­cious to me;
For the love­ly land of Ca­naan
In the dist­ance I see.

Not a sha­dow, not a sha­dow
Ever dark­ens the way,
For a ra­di­ance of rare glo­ry
Shines up­on it all day;
And the mu­sic, sweet­ly chanted
By the hea­ven­ly throng,
Floats in ca­dence down the val­ley,
And it cheers me along.

Refrain

So I jour­ney with re­joic­ing
Toward the ci­ty of light,
While each day my joy is deep­er,
And the path grows more bright;
And I near the op­en por­tals
Of the king­dom above,
For this high­way leads to Ca­naan,
To the king­dom of love.

Refrain