Scripture Verse

The Lord said to Moses, Come up to Me on the mountain…and I will give you tablets of stone…the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them. Exodus 24:12

Introduction

portrait
Conrad Schuette
(1843–1926)

Words: Da­vid De­nic­ke, in the Ha­no­ver Ge­sang Buch, 1652, number 69 (Wenn ich die hei­lgen zehn Ge­bot). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Con­rad H. L. Schuet­te in the Am­eri­can Lu­ther­an Hym­nal, ed­it­ed by Em­ma­nu­el Pop­pen (Co­lum­bus, Ohio: Lu­ther­an Book Con­cern, 1930), num­ber 58.

Music: Ham­burg Low­ell Ma­son, 1824 (🔊 pdf nwc). First ap­peared in The Bos­ton Han­del and Hay­dn So­ci­ety Col­lect­ion of Church Mu­sic, third edi­tion, 1825.

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

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Almighty Lord of earth and Heav’n,
The Ten Com­mand­ments Thou hast giv’n
Reveal how wick­ed I have been,
And make me dread the curse of sin.

I’ve loved the crea­ture more than Thee,
And sinned against Thy ma­jes­ty;
My love and trust to Thee de­nied,
On self and man my soul re­lied.

My lips have oft, from heart pro­fane,
Employed Thy ho­ly name in vain;
Forgetful of Thy cov­enant grace,
How sel­dom have I sought Thy face!

In sin­ful cares or work, or play,
I’ve oft­en spent Thy ho­ly day,
Despised Thy Word, strayed from Thy fold,
And left Thy be­ne­fits un­told.

My par­ents oft I’ve dis­obeyed,
Their good with ev­il deeds re­paid:
I’ve been un­chaste in word and deed,
And care­less of my neigh­bor’s need.

With hate­ful thoughts my heart’s been stained,
Nor have I aye my tongue re­strained;
I’ve co­vet­ed what was not mine,
And so trans­gressed Thy law di­vine.

Ah, how my sins are mul­ti­plied
When by Thy law my life is tried!
O jea­lous God, do pi­ty me
And mark not mine ini­qui­ty!

Let grace to judg­ment be pre­ferred;
Remove the curse I have in­curred;
For Je­sus’ sake my sins for­give,
And may I to Thy glo­ry live.