Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious. (v. 1)

Psalm 66 is an extended call to worship filled with reminders of “what God has done.” This includes the Exodus (vv. 6), but also God’s testing of his people (vv. 10-12).

Your let peoples ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance. (v. 12)

In response, the psalmist promise to offer sacrifices in the temple (vv. 13-15). The final section of the psalm (vv. 16-20) has a final call to worship and expresses thanks that God has heard the Psalmist’s prayer.

The Revised Common Lectionary assigns Psalm 66 to the 6th Sunday of Easter in Year A, where it serves as a response to Paul’s address on the Areopagus (Acts 17:22-31). It is also assigned to two Sundays in Year C. We took up Psalm 66 in our class on April 13.

Psalms for All Seasons includes four Psalm 66 hymns, two of which are also in Lift Up Your Hearts.

“Come, All You People, Praise Our God” (PFAS #66C/PFAS 495/PH87 #242/PH57 #120) is from the 1912 Psalter and is one of 18 Psalm settings to appear in all three Psalter Hymnals  and Lift Up Your Hearts with the same tune (ADOWA) The tune was composed by Iowa native Charles Gabriel , the prolific gospel songwriter who composed “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (LUYH #441) among thousands of other songs.

The gray Psalter Hymnal dropped the fourth verse so although the Psalter Hymnal Handbook claims the song versifies vv. 8-20, the hymn now actually ends with v. 18.

Come, all you people, praise our God
and tell his glorious works abroad,
who holds our souls in life;
he never lets our feet be moved
and, though our faith he often proved,
upholds us in the strife.

“Come All You People” (PFAS #66B/LUYH #496/SNC #4) is a Zimbabwean tune that appeared in Sing! A New Creation (with no explicit connection to Psalm 66) and then was included in PFAS and LUYH as a Psalm 66 hymn as it appears to be based on verse 8. The 1995 Lutheran hymnal With One Voice added two verses to make it a Trinitarian hymn. The second and third verses substitute “Savior” and “Spirit” for “Maker.”

Come, all you people, come and praise your Maker;
Come, all you people, come and praise your Maker;
Come, all you people, come and praise your Maker;
Come now and worship the Lord.

“Praise Our God with Shouts of Joy” (PFAS #66E) has modern lyrics by Christopher Idle set to GENEVAN 136.

Praise our God with shouts of joy;
sing the glory of his name;
join to lift his praises high;
through the world his love proclaim!

“Cry Out to God in Joy” (PFAS #66A) is a modern choral piece by Steven Warner. It might work best to have a soloist or choir sing the stanzas and the congregation sing the refrain. A sample is here. The chorus is also used as the responsorial setting in Psalms for All Seasons, “Cry Out to God in Joy” (PFAS #66D). It’s more singable than many of the responsorial choruses.

Sing! A New Creation includes another responsorial, “Cantad al Señor/O Sing to the Lord” (SNC #224/225), which uses uses the five stanzas of the hymn as responses to five sections of the psalm.

The Psalter Hymnals include three Psalm 66 hymns that don’t appear in the new CRC hymnals. “Come, Everyone, and Join with Us” (PH87 #66) is a versification of the entire psalm written for the gray Psalter Hymnal by Marie Post (lyrics) and Dale Grotenhuis (tune). The tune is ELEANOR.

The two additional Psalm 66 settings in the blue Psalter Hymnal are from the 1912 Psalter. “All Lands, to God in Joyful Sounds” (PH57 #118) is a versification of vv. 1-6, each verse getting its own stanza. “O All Ye Peoples, Bless Our God” (PH57 #119) is a versification of vv. 8-20.

(This is the  24th post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147,  Psalm 112,  Psalm 29,  Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51,  Psalm 6, Psalm 32,  Psalm 143,  Psalms 38/102, Psalm 31, Psalm 116, Psalm 16, Psalm 22, Psalm 118, and Psalms 47/93.)

The Revised Common Lectionary designates either Psalm 27 or Psalm 93 as the psalm for Ascension Sunday so our Sunday school class looked at both of them on March 30. The psalms are both about God’s reign, but focus on different demonstrations of that reign.

Psalm 93 is about creation, using the image of conquering the primeval water found in Genesis. Not only are the waters unable to move the world God established (v. 1) or his throne (v. 2), the majesty of its waves pales in comparison to majesty of the Lord (vv. 3-4). This brief psalm concludes by declaring that God’s decrees, like his reign, are “very sure” and his holiness, evident in creation, adorn his temple “for endless days” (v. 5).

In Psalm 47, the reign of God is demonstrated through subduing and ruling over “the nations,” perhaps referring specifically to Israel’s conquering the Promised Land under Joshua. The psalm is filled with calls to worship with by clapping, singing, shouting, and sounding a trumpet (maybe in reference to Jericho). The language of verse 5 (“God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of trumpet”) suggests the psalm’s use for celebrating Jesus’ Ascension.

The only Psalm 47 setting that appears in Lift Up Your Hearts is “Nations, Clap Your Hands” (PFAS #47E/LUYH #216/PH87 #47) which is set to GENEVAN 47. According to the Psalter Hymnal Handbook, “Cor Wm. Barendrecht originally versified this psalm in an unrhymed text in 1980; the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee added rhyme and recast a number of lines to arrive at the current versification.” Each of the three stanzas consists of five rhyming couplets.

 Nations, clap your hands; shout with joy, you lands.
Awesome is the LORD; spread his fame abroad.
He rules every land with a mighty hand.
God brings nations low; he subdues each foe.
From his mighty throne God protects his own.

 Psalms for All Seasons has four other hymn settings of Psalm 47.

“Clap Your Hands, O Faithful People!” (PFAS #47A) is set to NETTLETON (“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”) with lyrics by Michael Morgan, lyricist of our class theme song “Trees” (PFAS #I),  “All on Earth and All in Heaven” (PFAS #29A/LUYH #922), and “O Shepherd, Hear and Guide Your Flock” (PFAS #80C/LUYH #64). (He is credited with 23 songs found in PFAS and 16 in LUYH.) The hymn is a loose versification of the psalm. It’s the probably the best of the PFAS settings for congregational singing.

We enjoyed the three other settings in PFAS although each would require a song leader or choir for us to use in worship.

“God Has Gone Up” (PFAS #47B) has a chorus focusing on Ascension (“God has gone up with a shout of rejoicing: he has ascended in glory! O clap your hands, clap your hands all you people: he has ascended in glory!”) and an explicitly Christological final stanza. A sample is here.

“Clap You Hands, All Ye Nations” (PFAS #47C) has a catchy syncopated rhythm. Its refrain focuses on God’s being “King over all the earth.”

“Clap Your Hands, All You Nations” (PFAS #47D) has lyrics by Gren Scheer set to a Yoruba folk song. It has a call-and-response format; the leader’s part is written as a descant.

A strange omission from the new hymnals is “Clap Your Hands” (PH87 #166/SWM #2), which is on my list of notable psalm hymns in the gray Psalter Hymnal that were left out of Lift Up Your Hearts. It’s a lively canon (with up to four parts) based on the first verse of Psalm 47. I don’t understand why it didn’t even make Psalm for All Seasons.

Clap your hands, all you people;
shout unto God with a voice of triumph!
Clap your hands, all you people;
shout unto God with a voice of praise!

Sing with Me includes a second, Ascension-based stanza by Bert Polman.

 Clap your hands, all you people;
Christ has ascended into heaven!
Clap your hands, all you people;
Christ has ascended with shouts of joy!

We enjoyed singing this in a round and I expect to use the Sing with Me version during our Ascension Sunday service (and likely none of the others—there are just too many good Ascension songs from which to choose).

Sing! A New Creation includes another Psalm 47 song, “Clap Your Hands All You Nations” (SNC #156), an Iona Community song by John Bell. A sample is here. The first two lines are use in Psalm for All Seasons’ responsorial setting “Clap Your Hands All You Nations” (PFAS #47E).

The blue Psalter Hymnal contains two Psalm 47 settings: “Praise the Lord, Ye Lands” (PH57 #86) and “All Nations, Clap Your Hands” (PH57 #87).

The CRC hymnals contain only three hymn settings of Psalm 93, with just one in the two new hymnals. “Robed in Majesty” (PFAS #93A/LUYH #546) has modern lyrics set to the frequently used tune SALZBURG. [SALZBURG is the tune of three additional songs in Lift Up Your Hearts: “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” (LYUH #104/PH87 #361), “God, You Call Us to This Place” (LUYH #531/SNC #14), and “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing” (LUYH #832)].

Robed in majesty, he reigns,
sovereign from eternity;
praise the Lord, the God of strength,
robed in awesome majesty.
Firm and sure the world will stand;
here the Maker’s power is shown—
yet, predating even time,
firmer, surer stands his throne.

Neither of the Psalm 93 settings in the gray Psalter Hymnal were included in Lift Up Your Hearts. “The LORD in King” (PH87 #172) was versified for the gray Psalter Hymnal by Clarence Walhout and set to GENEVAN 93. “The LORD is King, Enthroned” (PH87 #93/PH57 #184) is from the 1912 Psalter, where it was titled “Jehovah Sits Enthroned.” It is set to RIALTO.

The responsorial setting is “Every Since the World Began” (PFAS #93B).

(This is the  23rd post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147,  Psalm 112,  Psalm 29,  Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51,  Psalm 6, Psalm 32,  Psalm 143,  Psalms 38/102, Psalm 31, Psalm 116, Psalm 16, Psalm 22, and Psalm 118.)

Psalm 118, which our class took up on March 23, is (possibly excepting Psalm 22) the psalm most associated with Holy Week. It’s the psalm shouted by the crowds as Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It’s the psalm quoted by Jesus following the Parable of the Tenants, which he tells in the temple courts the next day, and again when he mourns for Jerusalem. Since it is the concluding psalm in the Egyptian Hallel, it is likely part of the hymn Jesus and his disciples sang after the Last Supper.

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:42-43)

The Revised Common Lectionary assigns Psalm 118 to Palm Sunday and to Easter in all three years (and on the 2nd Sunday in Easter in Year C).

Psalm 118 was originally a processional psalm; the different sections may have been sung at different places along the way to the temple. The opening is a call for praise (vv. 1-4) followed by testimony about the Lord’s deliverance from enemies (vv. 5-13). Aside from the first two verses, the lectionary ignores this part of the psalm. (Psalm Sunday uses vv. 1-2, 19-29; Easter uses vv. 1-2, 14-24.)

After more testimony about the Lord saving the psalmist from death (vv. 14-18), the psalm calls for the “gates of righteousness” to be opened (presumably as the procession reaches the temple gates). The final part of the psalm contains its most famous verses: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (v. 22), “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (v. 24); and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (v. 26).

The only full versification of Psalm 118 in recent CRC hymnals is “Give Thanks to God for All His Goodness” (PFAS #118H/LUYH #196/PH87 #118), which was written for the gray Psalter Hymnal by Stanley Wiersma and set to GENEVAN 98/118 (the only tune used for two psalms in that hymnal). Each line ends with “Your love forever is the same!” The versification is very concise; stanza two covers 10 verses. A sample is here.

The remaining hymns in PFAS and LUYH ignore the first 13 verses of the psalm.

“The Right Hand of God” (PFAS 118F) is inspired by vv. 14-15 (“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!’”).

The right hand of God is writing in our land,
writing with power and with love,
our conflicts and our fears,
our triumphs and our tears
are recorded by the right hand of God.

Subsequent verses have God’s hand pointing, striking and healing.  The tune is LA MANO DE DIOS.

“The Glorious Gates of Righteousness” (PFAS #118A/PH87 #179/PH57 #234) is a versification of vv. 19-29 from the 1912 Psalter. It’s one of only five psalm settings to appear in all three Psalter Hymnals but not in Lift Up Your Hearts. It is set to ZERAH.

The glorious gates of righteousness
throw open unto me,
and I will come to them with praise
and enter thankfully,
and I will come to them with praise
and enter thankfully.

Four of the hymns in PFAS are derived from v. 24, reportedly the most shared (on social media) Bible verse of 2013. The verse probably refers to Passover or the Exodus from Egypt, not “today.”

The most familiar to us was “This Is the Day” (PFAS #118K/PH87 #241), which is one of the notable psalm settings from the gray Psalter Hymnal that was omitted from Lift Up Your Hearts.  The version in the Psalter Hymnal has three Trinitarian verses: “This is the day that the Lord has made…,” “This is the day that he rose again,” and “This is the day when the Spirit came….” (The three days in the three verses are Passover, Easter and Pentecost.) The version in PFAS has stanzas 2 & 3 based on vv. 24 & 28 of Psalm 118: “Open to us the gates of God…” and “You are our God, we will praise your name….” The tune is here.

“This Is the Day the Lord Hath Made” (PFAS #118E) is a paraphrase of part of the psalm by Isaac Watts and set to NUN DANKET ALL’ UND BRINGET EHR’.

This is the day the Lord hath made;
the hours are all God’s own.
Let heaven rejoice; let earth be glad,
and praise surround the throne.

“This Is the Day the Lord Has Made” (PFAS #118D) is another paraphrase of the last part of the psalm in 7/8 time. One of our class member described is as “interesting, but not unsingable.”

“Psallite Deo/This Is the Day” (PFAS #118C) is a Taizé hymn with a simple congregational refrain (“This is the day the Lord has made! Alleluia, alleluia!”) and a solo part. A sample is here. A related Taizé hymn is “Surrexit Christus/The Lord is Risen” (PFAS #118J).

Psalms for All Seasons includes four responsorial settings. “Hail and Hosanna!” (PFAS #118B/LUYH #147/SNC #146) is a three-part canon. It is set to vv. 19-29 in PFAS and LUYH and vv. 1-4 & 14-29 in Sing! A New Creation. According to the performance notes: “This setting is most appropriate when using the psalm in the context of a Palm Sunday celebration or during the season of Advent.”

“This Is the Day the Lord Has Made” (PFAS #118G) is another responsorial refrain with vv. 1-2 & 14-29 as the text. The alternative is “Celtic Alleluia” (PFAS #118G-alt) which is also found in Lift Up Your Hearts (#198) without the Psalm 118 text and in Sing! A New Creation (#148) as the refrain of a longer hymn (“Now He Is Living, the Christ”).

The final responsorial setting is “Jesus Is Risen and We Shall Arise” (PFAS #118I) (called “A Paraphrase for Easter”) with The Message paraphrase of vv. 14-24 as the text. The refrain is the refrain of “Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen” (LUYH #205), which is set to EARTH AND ALL STARS.

The blue Psalter Hymnal includes two additional Psalm 118 settings: “O Praise the Lord, for He Is Good” (PH57 #232) and “Let All Exalt Jehovah’s Goodness” (PH57 #233). We didn’t sing either of these.

(This is the  22nd post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147,  Psalm 112,  Psalm 29,  Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51,  Psalm 6, Psalm 32,  Psalm 143,  Psalms 38/102, Psalm 31, Psalm 116, Psalm 16, and Psalm 22.)

(Here’s the 21st post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147,  Psalm 112,  Psalm 29,  Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51,  Psalm 6, Psalm 32,  Psalm 143,  Psalms 38/102, Psalm 31, Psalm 116, and Psalm 16. On March 16, our class took up Psalm 22.)

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).… And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. (Matthew 27:45-46, 50)

The first line of Psalm 22 are the only words that Mark and Matthew report Jesus speaking from the cross, shortly before his death. They have come to stand for the abandonment Jesus felt during the cruxifiction, but also point ahead to the rest of the psalm (which Jesus may also have recited), which looks forward not just to personal salvation from death but to all the ends of the earth, even generations still unborn, worshiping the Lord.

The first 18 verses detail the psalmist’s dire circumstances: abandoned by the very same God who had saved our ancestors (vv. 1-5) and had protected the psalmist since birth (vv. 9-11), abandoned by other people (vv. 6-8), surrounded by enemies and near death (vv. 12-18). Features from the psalmist’s description of his distress, e.g., enemies casting lots for his garments, correspond to details of the cruxifiction.

Then the psalm takes a turn with a prayer for deliverance (vv. 19-21) and a response to that deliverance in which the psalmist calls the people to worship (vv. 22-26) and looks forward to God’s worldwide reign (vv. 27-31). If the CRC hymnals are any indication, this final section of the psalm is more popular with songwriters  than the earlier parts of the psalm.

The Revised Common Lectionary designates Psalm 22 for Good Friday during all three years (as well as three more three more Lord’s Days in Year B and one in Year C).

“My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” (PFAS #22A) is the only hymn in Psalms for All Seasons based the first section of the psalm. The refrain is the title of the hymn. The four stanzas are based on vv. 7-8; 16-17; 18-19; and 22-23. It seems better suited for for choral than congregational singing. A sample is here. According to the performance notes, “The paraphrase here offers a compelling interpretation of the psalm in the voice of Christ, making it ideal for use on Good Friday.”

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
People who see me are scornful,
sneering at me, and tossing their heads.
“His trust was in God, let God save him.
come to the aid of his own special friend.”

A majority of the Psalm 22 hymns are based on the final triumphant section of the psalm. Three of these are in Psalms for All Seasons, include two great hymns from the 1912 Psalter.

“Amid the Thronging Worshipers” (PFAS #22E/LUYH #551/PH87 #239/PH57 #37) is a versification vv. 22-28 set to BOVINA. (A sample is here.) “The Ends of All the Earth” (PFAS #22G/LUYH #594/PH87 #542/PH57 #36) is a versification of vv. 27-31 set to VISION. (A sample is here.) These two songs are in the select 18 psalm hymns that appear in all three Psalter Hymnals and Lift Up Your Hearts with the same tune. (No other psalm has more than one setting on this list.) Either of these would be appropriate as an opening hymn for almost any service.

The ends of all the earth shall hear
And turn unto the Lord in fear;
All kindreds of the earth shall own
And worship him as God alone.
All earth to him her homage brings,
The Lord of lords, the King of kings.

“In the Presence of Your People” (PFAS #22F/PH87 #160) was written by Brent Chambers in the style of Jewish dance music. The first verse, which appears in the gray Psalter Hymnal,  is based on Psalm 22:3, 22 and Psalm 145:7. Bert Polman wrote stanzas 2-3 based on Psalm 22:3, 23-28. However, these rejected by the hymn’s copyright holders for the gray Psalter Hymnal and they first appear in Songs for LIFE, the CRC’s 1994 children’s song book. A sample is here. My daughters, Lydia and Chloe, who attended class today (the children’s classes were cancelled), said this was their favorite song of all we sang.

Two other hymns based on the conclusion of the psalm (both from the 1912 Psalter) can be found in the Psalter Hymnals. The blue Psalter Hymnal contains “All Ye That Fear Jehovah’s Name” (PH57 #35). The gray Psalter Hymnal includes “Come, All Who Fear the Lord God” (PH87 #240). (This is first instance I’ve noticed of a hymn from the 1912 Psalter appearing in the gray Psalter Hymnal despite being left out of the blue Psalter Hymnal.) “Come, All Who Fear the Lord God” is a good hymn, but doesn’t compare to “Amid the Thronging Worshipers” or “The Ends of All the Earth.” (We had so many hymns to choose from today that we didn’t sing “All Ye That Fear Jehovah’s Name.”)

Two full versifications of Psalm 22 from the Psalter Hymnals are left out of the new CRC hymnals. The blue Psalter Hymnal’s full versification is the 11-stanza “My God, My God, I Cry to Thee” (PH57 #34), which is from the 1912 Psalter (and wasn’t sung by us).  The gray Psalter Hymnal replaces this with “My God! My God!” a 10-stanza versification by Calvin Seerveld set to MALDWYN. Seerveld did an excellent job of turning the psalm into vivid rhyming couplets.

My God! O my God! Have you left me alone?
Why have you forsaken me, deaf to my groan?
I cry to you daily and plead late at night,
but you do not answer or pity my plight.

The responsorial setting in Psalms for All Seasons is “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” (PFAS #22D). The alternative is “All the Ends of the Earth Shall Remember” (PFAS #22D-alt).

Sing! A New Creation includes another responsorial setting (of vv. 1-11 & 22-31) using the first two lines of “What Wondrous Love” (SNC #142). An updated version of this appears in Psalms for All Seasons and Lift Up Your Hearts, titled “Psalm 22:1-11, 22-29: A Scripted Reading” (PFAS #22C/LUYH #165). It uses four sung responses, which are the openings of the four stanzas of “What Wondrous Love.”

Lift Up Your Hearts places this setting opposite the full version of “What Wondrous Love” (LUYH #164/PH87 #379), which is designated as a Psalm 22 hymn.

Psalms for All Seasons also includes a chant, “Lord, Why Have You Forsaken Me” (PFAS #22B), that covers vv. 1-11 and 23-31. The first part is sung in union is a minor key, the second part in four-part harmony in major mode. A sample is here.

If I have a complaint about the Psalm 22 settings in the two new CRC hymnals (PFAS & LUYH), it’s that they don’t provide a great hymn for congregational singing on Good Friday. Most of the settings ignore the section of the Psalm most relevant to the crucifixion, including the “scripted reading” that is in the Good Friday section of LUYH. The lectionary assigns all of the psalm to Good Friday, not just 1-11 & 22-29, so those missing verses are an odd lacuna in that reading. “Lord, Why Have You Forsaken Me” skips the same section as well.

(Here’s the 21st post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147,  Psalm 112,  Psalm 29,  Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51,  Psalm 6, Psalm 32,  Psalm 143,  Psalms 38/102, Psalm 31, and Psalm 116. On March 9, our class took up Psalm 16.)

“Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge,” begins Psalm 16, and then the psalmist meditates on what it means to take refuge in God—what God has done for him and what response he owes to God.

In the middle section of the psalm (vv. 5-8), the psalmist reflects on the inheritance, counsel, and security God has provided him. In the final section (vv. 9-11), the psalmist rejoices that God has saved his life:

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

In response, the psalmist vows to serve only the Lord, and not to “run after other gods.” The opening section (vv. 2-4), with its contrast between the Lord and other gods, parallels the contrast between life and death in the closing.

Although the original author (David is credited in the superscription) seems to be expressing thanks for salvation from near death, a long Christian tradition, dating back to Peter and Paul, views the psalm as a messianic prophecy. This understanding of Psalm 16 is the central argument in in Peter’s Pentecost address. After quoting vv. 8-11, he tells the crowd:

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

Paul quotes verse 10 in his address in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13) and makes the same argument as Peter.

Presumably for this reason the Revised Common Lectionary assigns the psalm to Easter Vigil in all three years as well as the 2nd Sunday of Easter in Year A and ordinary time Lord’s Days in Years B & C.

Psalms for All Seasons includes three hymn settings of Psalm 16.  (Andrew was out of town so Char was our accompanist for the morning.)

“When in the Night I Meditate” (PFAS #16A/PH57 #22) is from the 1912 Psalter and is set to MAITLAND. (A sample is here.) It is a loose versification of vv. 7-11. Here is stanza 1 (based on v. 7: “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.”):

When in the night I meditate
On mercies multiplied,
My grateful heart inspires my tongue
To bless the Lord, my Guide.

MAITLAND is reminiscent of “Precious Lord, Take my Hand” (LUYH #464/PH87 #493), which was derived from it.

“Harbor My Heart” (PFAS #16B) is a modern hymn based on the psalm. (A sample is here.) If we used it in a service, we would likely have a soloist sing the verses and the congregation the refrain. Here is the refrain:

Harbor of my heart,
I take refuge in you,
preserve me, O God!
My joy is in you alone.

The final setting in Psalm for All Seasons is “Protect Me, God; I Trust in You” (PFAS #16C/LUYH #411/PH87 #16). (A recording of the first stanza is here.) It is one of very favorite psalm settings from the gray Psalter Hymnal and I was happy to see that it made the cut for Lift Up Your Hearts. It was written for the 1973 Anglican hymnal Psalm Praise.

“Protect Me, God; I Trust in You” is a very concise versification of the entire psalm. For instance, verse 4 (“Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such godsor take up their names on my lips.”) is versified as “but pagan ways I will not share.” Each of the five stanzas is followed by the refrain, “Protect me, God: I trust in you.” Here is stanza 3 (based on vv. 4-5):

LORD God, you are my food and drink;
my work for you is joy indeed;
glad is the heritage that’s mine.

The refrain of “Protect Me, God; I Trust in You” (PFAS #26D/SNC #155) is the responsorial setting. [The alternate responsorial refrain is “My Heart it Glad and My Spirit Rejoices” (PFAS #16D-alt).]

In addition to “When in the Night, I Meditate,” the blue Psalter Hymnal has two other settings, both with lyrics from  the 1912 Psalter. “O God, Preserve Me” (PH57 #16) is a versification of vv. 1-6. “To Thee, O Lord, I Fly” (PH57 #23) is a loose versification of most of the psalm.

(Here’s the 20th post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147,  Psalm 112,  Psalm 29,  Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51,  Psalm 6, Psalm 32,  Psalm 143,  Psalms 38/102, and Psalm 31. On March 2, our class took up Psalm 116.)

Psalm 116 is the only place in the Psalter, indeed the entire Bible, where anyone declares, “I love the Lord.”

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

The psalm is part of the Egyptian Hallel, Psalms 113-118, which is sung during the Passover meal (113-114 before the meal; Psalm 115-118 after it). Thus, it is probably part of the hymn Jesus and his disciples sang after the Last Supper (Mark 14:26).

Psalm 114 is the only psalm in that collection to make direct reference to the Exodus, but Psalm 116, a song of individual thanksgiving, is the psalmist’s response to the Lord’s rescue from a dire-situation—an Exodus-like experience.

The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”

The Lord responds by not just saving the psalmist’s life, but also rescuing him from sadness and from missteps in his walk with the Lord.

For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

The psalmist thus responds not just with love, but with public worship: twice the psalmist promises to “pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.” Remembering escape from near death leads the psalmist to look forward to the inevitability of his death and that even then the Lord will be with him.

Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.

This verse makes the psalm appropriate for a funeral, while a reference to “the cup of salvation” suggests its possible use during communion.

The Revised Common Lectionary assigned Psalm 116 to Maundy Thursday in all three years as well as the 3rd Sunday in Easter in Year A and a pair of ordinary time Sundays in Years A & B.

Psalms for All Seasons and Lift Up Your Hearts have five Psalm 116 songs between them.

“I Love You, LORD, for You Have Heard My Voice” (PFAS #116A/LUYH #735/PH87 #116/HFW #9) is a full (unrhymed) versification by Helen Otte set to GENEVAN 116 for the gray Psalter Hymnal. (The song is titled “I Love the LORD, for He Has Heard My Voice” in the gray Psalter Hymnal. Third-person pronouns are changed to second-person throughout for the new CRC hymnals.) According to the Psalter Hymnal Handbook, “This Mixolydian tune is one of the simplest, finest, and most loved of the Genevan repertoire.”

I love you, LORD, for you have heard my voice.
You turned to me and heard my cry for mercy.
Anguished by death and overcome by sorrow,
I turned in my distress to you in prayer.

“What Shall I Render to the Lord” (PFAS #116B/LUYH #871/PH87 #178/PH57 #230) is “one of the most loved from the 1912 Psalter” (says the Psalter Hymnal Handbook). It is a versification of the second half of the psalm (vv. 12-19). It was set to WALLACE in the 1912 Psalter and blue Psalter Hymnal, but was changed to ROCKINGHAM for the gray Psalter Hymnal. (Our class disagreed about which was the better tune.)

What shall I render to the LORD
for all his benefits to me?
How shall my life, by grace restored,
give worthy thanks, O LORD, to thee?

[ROCKINGHAM is also used for “O Christ, You Wept When Grief Was Raw” (LUYH #467), “Commit Your Way to God the Lord” (PFAS #37A/LUYH #840), “Let God, Who Called the Worlds to Be” (SNC #60), and “That Night, at Table” (SNT #156).]

“I Love the Lord; He Heard My Cry” (PFAS #116C/LUYH #439/SNC #227) has lyrics based on vv. 1-2 by Isaac Watts set  to an Afro-American spiritual tune. Richard Smallwood composed the current version.

I love the Lord; he heard my cry
and pitied every groan.
Long as I live and troubles rise,
I’ll hasten to his throne.

The first line of the Watt’s song is the Psalm 116 responsorial “I Love the Lord, Who Heard My Cry” (PFAS #116D/LUYH #152/SNC #226). (PFAS changed “He” to “who” in the first line; LUYH & SNC keep the “who.”) Psalms for All Seasons includes only vv. 1-9 & 12-19; the other two hymnals include the entire psalm.

The fourth and final Psalm 116 hymn in PFAS is “I Will Walk in the Presence of God” (PFAS #116E).  A fragment from the hymn is also given as an alternative responsorial setting.

I will walk in the presence of God.
I trusted when I felt afflicted,
I walk in the sight of the Lord,
and even in the face of death
I will walk in the presence of God.

Lift Up Your Hearts includes another Psalm 116 setting, “I Love the Lord” (LUYH #819), a beautiful 21st Century composition by Arnel Aquino. This was one of my favorites. Here is the refrain:

I love the Lord;
he is filled with compassion.
He turned to me on the day that I called.
From the snares of the dark,
O Lord, save my life, be my strength.

The blue Psalter Hymnal includes two more Psalm 116 settings: “I Love the Lord, the Fount of Life” (PH57 #228) is, like Otte’s versification, set to GENEVAN 116, but a wordier approach resulted in a hymn of 10 stanzas. (Otte’s has five).

“I Love the Lord, for My Request” (PH57 #229) is a versification of the first half of the psalm (vv. 1-11) set to CANONBURY, the tune of “Lord, Speak to Me that I May Speak” (LUYH #754/PH87 #528/PH57 #404).

Since he has freed mine eyes from tears
And kept my feet from evil ways
Redeemed from life’s distressing fears,
With Him I walk, and Him I praise.