To Give Them Songs for Sighing

As we wait during the season of Advent, stories are told of righted wrongs and promised justice, of the prosperity and peace that will prevail in the coming reign of Christ. Psalm 72, often read during Advent, is a prayer for this future.

This paraphrase of Psalm 72 is by James Montgomery. It was written for the British Moravian community at Fulneck and was first sung on Christmas Day, 1821. Montgomery then sent it to George Bennett, an acquaintance who was then in the South Seas, thus beginning its long use as a missionary hymn as well as a prophetic Advent text.

Hail to you, God’s anointed,
Messiah yet to come!
Hail in the time appointed,
Your reign on earth begun!
You come to break oppression,
To set the captive free;
To take away transgression
And rule in equity.

You come with succor speedy
To those who suffer wrong;
To help the poor and needy,
And bid the weak be strong;
To give them songs for sighing,
Their sadness put to flight,
Whose souls, condemned and dying,
Are precious in your sight.

You shall come down like showers
Upon the fruitful earth;
And love, joy, hope, like flowers,
Spring in your path to birth.
Before you, on the mountains,
Shall Peace, the herald, go,
And righteousness, in fountains,
From hill to valley flow.

Kings shall fall down before you,
And gold and incense bring;
All nations shall adore you,
Your praise all people sing;
For you shall have dominion
O’er river, sea and shore,
Far as the eagle’s pinion
Or dove’s light wing can soar.

To you shall prayer unceasing
And daily vows ascend;
Your commonwealth increasing,
A reign that has no end:
The mountain dews shall nourish
The seed which you have sown,
Whose fruit shall spread and flourish,
A garden grace has grown.

O’er every foe victorious,
You on your throne shall rest;
From age to age more glorious,
All blessing and all blest.
The tide of time shall never
Your covenant remove;
Your Name shall stand forever,
That Name to us is Love.

James Montgomery, 1821; alt.
Tune: ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVOGELEIN (7.6.7.6.D.)
German folk tune, 17th c.

More denominations know this hymn to the ubiquitous tune ELLACOMBE, but that's not a favorite of mine. Few hymnals still include six stanzas of this text; often the fourth and fifth stanzas are combined into one by using only the first four lines of each one. Montgomery's original actually has two more, the original third and fifth:

By such shall you be fearèd
While sun and moon endure;
Beloved, obeyed, reverèd;
For you shall judge the poor
Through changing generations,
With justice, mercy, truth,
While stars maintain their stations,
Or moons renew their youth.

Arabia’s desert ranger
To you shall bow the knee;
The Ethiopian stranger
Your glory come to see;
With offerings of devotion
Ships from the isles shall meet,
To pour the wealth of oceans
In tribute at your feet.

Eight eight-line stanzas is probably a bit overlong even for me.


One Year Ago: Hark, the Voice of One That Crieth