O Worship the King all glorious above

Representative Text

1 O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

2 O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

3 Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

4 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.
Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

5 O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,
whom angels delight to worship above!
Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,
in true adoration shall sing to your praise!

Psalter Hymnal, (Gray)

Author: Robert Grant

Robert Grant (b. Bengal, India, 1779; d. Dalpoorie, India, 1838) was influenced in writing this text by William Kethe’s paraphrase of Psalm 104 in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter (1561). Grant’s text was first published in Edward Bickersteth’s Christian Psalmody (1833) with several unauthorized alterations. In 1835 his original six-stanza text was published in Henry Elliott’s Psalm and Hymns (The original stanza 3 was omitted in Lift Up Your Hearts). Of Scottish ancestry, Grant was born in India, where his father was a director of the East India Company. He attended Magdalen College, Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1807. He had a distinguished public career a Governor of Bombay and as a member of the British Parliament, where… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: O worship the King all glorious above
Title: O Worship the King all glorious above
Author: Robert Grant (1833)
Meter: 10.10.11.11
Language: English
Notes: Swahili translation: See "Watu wa yesu, sifuni Bwana"; Spanish translation: See Al Rey adorad, grandioso Señor by S. L. Hernandez
Copyright: Public Domain
Liturgical Use: Opening Hymns

Notes

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Ps. 18:2, Dan. 7:9, 13, 22
st. 2 = Ps. 18:9-12, Ps. 104:1-3
st. 3 = Ps. 104:7-10
st. 5 = Ps. 145:10

Robert Grant (b. Bengal, India, 1779; d. Dalpoorie, India, 1838) was influenced in writing this text by William Kethe’s (PHH 100) paraphrase of Psalm 104 in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter (1561). Grant’s text was first published in Edward Bickersteth’s Christian Psalmody (1833) with several unauthorized alterations. In 1835 his original six-stanza text was published in Henry Elliott’s Psalm and Hymns. Stanza 3 was omitted in the Psalter Hymnal.

Rather than being a paraphrase or versification, the text is a meditation on the creation theme of Psalm 104. Stanzas 1-3, which allude to Psalm 104:1-6, focus on God’s creation as a testimony to his “measureless Might.” More personal in tone, stanzas 4 and 5 confess the compassion of God toward his creatures and affirm with apocalyptic vision that the “ransomed creation, with glory ablaze” will join with angels to hymn its praise to God.

Of Scottish ancestry, Grant was born in India, where his father was a director of the East India Company. He attended Magdalen College, Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1807. He had a distinguished public career a Governor of Bombay and as a member of the British Parliament, where he sponsored a bill to remove civil restrictions on Jews. Grant was knighted in 1834. His hymn texts were published in the Christian Observer (1806-1815), in Elliot’s Psalms and Hymns (1835), and posthumously by his brother as Sacred Poems (1839).

Liturgical Use:
An opening hymn of praise; because of the hymn’s relationship to Psalm 104, see suggestions for use at PHH 104.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook
=======================

O worship the King, All-glorious above. Sir R. Grant . [Psalms civ.] This version of Psalms civ. is W. Kethe's rendering of the same psalm in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter of 1561, reset by Sir R. Grant in the same metre but in a less quaint and much more ornate style, as a quotation of Kethe's stanzas i., iii. will show:—

"My ƒoule praise the Lord,
speake good of his Name
0 Lord our great God
how doeƒt thou appear?
So passing in glorie,
that great is thy fame,
Honour and maieƒtie,
in thee ƒhine moƒt cleare.

"His chamber beames lie,
in the clouds full ƒure,
Which as his chariot,
are made him to beare.
And there with much ƒwiftneƒƒ
his courƒe doth endure:
Vpon the wings riding.
Of winds in the aire."

Sir R. Grant's version was given in Bickersteth's Church Psalmody, 1833, No. 17; in Elliott's Psalms and Hymns, 1835; and in Lord Glenelg's edition of Grant's Sacred Poems. 1839, p. 33. From the Preface to Elliott's Psalms & Hymns we find that the text in Bickersteth was not authorized. It was altered from a source at present unknown to us. The authorized text is in the Hymnal Companion, 1876, with stanza ii., l. 3, thus-—
“His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form."
This text with the omission of the "the" is ill extensive use in all English-speaking countries. It is also in use in an abbreviated and slightly altered form as in Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1861 ; and in the full form, but still altered as before, in Hymns Ancient & Modern1875. The 1839 text is in Church Hymns, 1871; Hymnal Companion, 1876; Turing's Collection, 1882, and others. It has been translation into Latin by R. Bingham, in his Hymnologia Christiana Latina, 1871, p. 143, as, "Glorioso ferte Regi vota vestra carmine."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
=======================

St. 1 = Ps 104:1, Ps 89:18, Da 7:9
St. 2 = Ps 104:2, Ps 104:3
St. 3 = Ps 104:5, Ps 104:6
St. 4 = Jb 37:9-13, Ps 104:15, Ps 104:13
St. 5 = Ps 104:29, Ps 104:31, Is 54:5
St. 6 = Ps 104:1, Ps 104:31, Ps 104:33

Sir Robert Grant stood as a man among men, serving both as a member of British Parliament and the governor of Bombay. Though himself of royal station, Grant's pen attested to the highest adoration-- his Maker. The regal prose of his pen ran rich in the lofty expressions and majestic declarations which attested to a humble concession to a being so much higher than himself.

- Psalms and Hymns And Spiritual Songs (2018)

Tune

LYONS


HANOVER (Croft)

William Croft (b. Nether Ettington, Warwickshire, England, 1678; d. Bath, Somerset, England, 1727) was a boy chorister in the Chapel Royal in London and then an organist at St. Anne's, Soho. Later he became organist, composer, and master of the children of the Chapel Royal, and eventually organist a…

Go to tune page >


Timeline

Media

You have access to this FlexScore.
Download:
Are parts of this score outside of your desired range? Try transposing this FlexScore.
General Settings
Stanza Selection
Voice Selection
Text size:
Music size:
Transpose (Half Steps):
Capo:
Contacting server...
Contacting server...
Questions? Check out the FAQ

A separate copy of this score must be purchased for each choir member. If this score will be projected or included in a bulletin, usage must be reported to a licensing agent (e.g. CCLI, OneLicense, etc).

This is a preview of your FlexScore.
Baptist Hymnal 1991 #16
  • Bulletin Score (melody only) (PDF)
  • Bulletin Score (PDF)
  • Full Score (PDF)
The Cyber Hymnal #5540
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #428
The United Methodist Hymnal #73
  • Bulletin Score (melody only) (PDF)
  • Bulletin Score (PDF)
  • Full Score (PDF)
Worship and Rejoice #2

Instances

Instances (301 - 400 of 1132)
Page Scan

Hymns and Chorales #88

Hymns and Prayers for Schools #d39

Hymns and Psalms #28

Page Scan

Hymns and Sacred Songs #238

Hymns and Songs for Church Schools #d149

Page Scan

Hymns and Songs for Social and Sabbath Worship #108

Page Scan

Hymns and Songs for Social and Sabbath Worship. (Rev. ed.) #108

Page Scan

Hymns and Songs for the Sunday School #33

Page Scan

Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship #56a

Page Scan

Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship #56b

Hymns and Tunes for Children of the Church #d149

TextPage Scan

Hymns for a Pilgrim People #38

Hymns for Children and Grownups to Use Together #d121

Hymns for Children and Young Persons #d328

Page Scan

Hymns for Christian Devotion #151

Page Scan

Hymns for Christian Devotion #151

Hymns for Creative Living #4

Hymns for Junior Worship #8

Hymns for Praise and Service #221

Hymns for Public Worship in the Diocese of Fredericton. 2nd ed. #d159

Page Scan

Hymns for Schools and Colleges #48

Hymns for Social Worship, Compiled for the Use of Canadian Baptist Churches #d235

Hymns for Teentime #d37

Hymns for the Celebration of Life #d177

Page Scan

Hymns for the Church #6

Page Scan

Hymns for the Family of God #336

Page Scan

Hymns for the Living Age #2

TextPage Scan

Hymns for the Living Church #21

Page Scan

Hymns for the Reformed Church in the United States #389

Hymns for the Sixth Baptist World Congress at Atlanta #d53

Page Scan

Hymns for the Worship of God #25

Hymns for Today #12

TextPage Scan

Hymns for Today's Church (2nd ed.) #24

Hymns for Use in Divine Worship ... Seventh-Day Adventists #d845

Hymns for Worship #3

Page Scan

Hymns for Worship #7

Text

Hymns for Youth #1

Hymns of Assurance, Containing 50 New Gospel Songs #d78

Page Scan

Hymns of Blessing for the Living Church #265

Hymns of Faith #8

TextPage Scan

Hymns of Faith #60

Hymns of Faith and Life #2

Hymns of Faith, with Music #d61

Hymns of Fellowship #d117

Hymns of Glorious Praise #d288

TextPage Scan

Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #127

Hymns of Grace #d321

Page Scan

Hymns of Pentecost #69

Page Scan

Hymns of Praise and Patriotism #88

Page Scan

Hymns of Praise Number Two #69

Page Scan

Hymns of Praise Numbers One and Two Combined #329

TextPage Scan

Hymns of Promise #14

Page Scan

Hymns of the "Jubilee Harp" #a413

Page Scan

Hymns of the Ages #18

Page Scan

Hymns of the Ages #18

Page Scan

Hymns of the Centuries (Chapel Edition) #49

Hymns of the Christian Life #d324

Hymns of the Christian Life #d322

Page Scan

Hymns of the Christian Life #3

Page Scan

Hymns of the Christian Life #47

Page Scan

Hymns of the Christian Life No. 2 #12

Hymns of the Christian Life #12

Hymns of the Christian Life. Rev. ed. #d358

Hymns of the Christian Life. Rev. ed. #12

Hymns of the Church #6

Page Scan

Hymns of the Church Universal #5

Page Scan

Hymns of the Church, Ancient and Modern #1

Page Scan

Hymns of the Church #72

Page Scan

Hymns of the Faith with Psalms #25

Hymns of the Faith #250

Page Scan

Hymns of the Faith #15

Page Scan

Hymns of the Kingdom of God #1

Page Scan

Hymns of the Kingdom of God #1

Page Scan

Hymns of the Kingdom of God #1

Page Scan

Hymns of the Living Church #45

Hymns of the Living Faith #1

Hymns of the Living Gospel No.3 #d104

Hymns of the Saints #27

Hymns of the Saints #28

Page Scan

Hymns of the Spirit #102

Hymns of the Spirit for Use in the Free Churches of America #6

Page Scan

Hymns of the United Church #3

Page Scan

Hymns of the United Church #3

Hymns of the Widening Kingdom #d69

Hymns of Truth & Light #16

Hymns of Truth and Praise #22

Hymns of Victory #204

Hymns of Worship and Praise #d95

Page Scan

Hymns of Worship and Service #7

Page Scan

Hymns of Worship and Service (15th ed.) #7

Page Scan

Hymns of Worship and Service (Chapel Ed., 4th ed.) #6

Page Scan

Hymns of Worship and Service #7

Page Scan

Hymns of Worship and Service #6

Page Scan

Hymns of Worship and Service. (Chapel ed.) #6

Hymns of Worship and Songs of the Gospel #d223

Page Scan

Hymns of Worship #47

Hymns Old and New #393

TextPage Scan

Hymns to the Living God #29

Page Scan

Hymns We Love #6

Page Scan

Ideal Sunday School Hymns #199

Pages

Exclude 1027 pre-1979 instances
Suggestions or corrections? Contact us