Scripture Verse

May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in all ways. 2 Thessalonians 3:16

Introduction

portrait
Wolfgang Köpfel (1478–1541)

Words: Wolf­gang Köp­fel, in the Strass­burg Ge­sang­buch, 1533 (Gib Fried zu un­ser Zeit). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ed­mund Grin­dal in the Eng­lish Psal­ter, 1561.

Music: Da Pa­cem Tho­mas Ra­vens­croft, 1621 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Thomas Ravenscroft (1592–1635)

Lyrics

Give peace in these our days, O Lord,
Great dan­gers are now at hand;
Thine en­emies with one ac­cord
Christ’s name in ev­ery land
Seek to de­face, root out and rase,
Thy true right wor­ship indeed.
Be Thou the stay, O Lord, we Thee pray.
Thou help­est alone in all need.

Give us that peace that we do lack,
Through mis­belief, and in ill life.
Thy Word to of­fer Thou dost not slack,
Which we un­kind­ly gain­strive.
With fire and sword, this health­ful Word
Some per­se­cute and op­press.
Some with the mouth con­fess the truth
Without sin­cere god­li­ness.

Give peace and us Thy sprite down send
With grief and re­pent­ance true;
Do piece our hearts our lives to amend,
And by faith Christ renew;
That fear and dread, war and blood­shed,
Through Thy sweet mer­cy and grace,
May from us slide, Thy truth abide,
And shine in ev­ery place.