Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Isaiah 42:1
Words: Originally in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases, 1745, as Behold My Servant! See Him Rise. The recast version below appeared in John Logan’s Poems, 1781; Julian (pages 127–28) believed the recast as likely by Michael Bruce.
Music: Tallis’ Ordinal Thomas Tallis, circa 1567 (🔊 pdf nwc).
Alternate Tunes:
Behold! the Ambassador divine,
Descending from above,
To publish to mankind the law
Of everlasting love.
On Him, in rich effusion poured,
The heav’nly dew descends;
And truth divine He shall reveal
To earth’s remotest ends.
No trumpet sound, at His approach,
Shall strike the wondering ears;
But still and gentle breathe the voice
In which the God appears.
By His kind hand the shaken reed
Shall raise its falling frame;
The dying embers shall revive,
And kindle to a flame.
The onward progress of His zeal
Shall never know decline,
Till foreign lands and distant isles
Receive the law divine.
He who spread forth the arch of Heav’n,
And bade the planets roll,
Who laid the basis of the earth,
And formed the human soul—
Thus saith the Lord, “Thee have I sent,
A prophet from the sky,
Wide o’er the nations to proclaim
The message from on high.
“Before Thy face the shades of death
Shall take to sudden flight;
The people who in darkness dwell
Shall hail a glorious light;
“The gates of brass shall ’sunder burst,
The iron fetters fall;
The promised jubilee of Heav’n
Appointed rise o’er all.
“And lo! presaging Thy approach,
The heathen temple shake,
And trembling in forsaken fanes,
The fabled idols quake.
I am Jehovah: I am One:
My name shall now be known;
No idol shall usurp My praise,
Nor mount into My throne.
Lo, former scenes, predicted once,
Conspicuous rise to view;
And future scenes, predicted now,
Shall be accomplished, too.
Now sing a new song to the Lord!
Let earth His praise resound;
Ye who upon the ocean dwell,
And fill the isles around.
O city of the Lord! begin
The universal song;
And let the scattered villages
The joyful notes prolong.
Let Kedar’s wilderness afar
Lift up the lonely voice;
And let the tenants of the rock
With accent rude rejoice.
O from the streams of distant lands
Unto Jehovah sing!
And joyful from the mountain tops
Shout to the Lord the King!
Let all combined with one accord
Jehovah’s glories raise,
Till in remotest bounds of earth
The nations sound His praise.