Hymn 14

Melody

LORD, I have heard the tidings
of you and of your might.
Your deeds reveal your greatness;
I tremble at their sight.
LORD, in our time renew them;
in our day make them known.
In wrath remember mercy;
do not forget your own!
From Teman and Mount Paran
came God, the Holy One,
and all throughout the heavens
his radiant splendour shone;
the brightness of his glory
filled all the earth with praise,
and from his hand the lightning
flashed forth in blinding rays.
He came with plagues before him,
with fevers in his wake.
He stood, the earth surveying,
and made the nations quake.
The everlasting mountains
did crack and split and fold;
the ancient hills he levelled.
His ways were as of old.
I saw the tents of Cushan
by squalls to tatters torn;
the curtains of all Midian
were flutt’ring in the storm.
O LORD, were you then angry
with rivers and with sea,
when you rode with your horses
and drove to victory?
When with your mighty rivers
you all the earth had cleaved,
the mountain ranges saw you;
with fear they writhed and heaved.
Then were the rushing waters
in raging streams outpoured.
The waves their hands uplifted;
the voice of oceans roared.
Your glitt’ring spear and arrows
made sun and moon stand still.
You, marching on in fury,
made earth in terror kneel.
You, trampling down the nations,
came with your dreadful wrath
to rescue your own people,
to clear for them a path.
To save your own anointed
you crushed the mighty foe.
By their own weapons wounded,
their chieftains were brought low.
Advancing like a whirlwind,
they came to vanquish me.
You with your horses trampled
the surging of the sea.
I hear your steps approaching
and at their sound I quake.
Lips quiver, bones are trembling;
I totter and I shake.
In quiet expectation
I shall await the day
when those who now invade us
will all be swept away.
Though fig trees may not blossom
and vines no fruit may yield,
though olives be a failure
and barren be the field,
though in the fold and stables
there be no flock or herd,
yet I will sing and worship,
rejoicing in the LORD.
The LORD, my God and Saviour,
in him I will rejoice,
and, in his pow’r exulting,
I will lift up my voice.
He makes my feet as nimble
as feet of graceful roes;
he lets me walk on mountains,
beyond the reach of woes.