Scripture Verse

The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Revelation 19:6

Introduction

portrait
Henry F. Chorley
(1808–1872)

Words: Henry F. Chor­ley, 1842, & John El­ler­ton, 1870. Through a pro­cess lost to his­to­ry, two si­mi­lar but dif­fer­ent sets of ly­rics have merged in­to the ver­sion of this hymn that we know to­day.

Music: Russ­ian Hymn Al­ex­is F. Lvov, 1833 (🔊 pdf nwc). You can hear strains of this tune in Tchai­kov­sky’s 1812 Ov­er­ture, pit­ted against the Mar­seil­laise.

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Alexis F. Lvov (1798–1870)

Lyrics

God, the om­ni­po­tent!
King who or­dain­est
Great winds Thy cla­ri­ons,
Lightnings Thy sword;
Show forth Thy pi­ty
On high where Thou reign­est,
Give to us peace
In our time, O Lord.

God the all mer­ci­ful!
Earth hath for­sak­en
Thy ways of bless­ed­ness,
Slighted Thy Word;
Bid not Thy wrath in
Its ter­rors awak­en;
Give to us peace
In our time, O Lord.

God the all right­eous One!
Man hath de­fied Thee;
Yet to eter­ni­ty
Standeth Thy Word,
Falsehood and wrong shall
Not tar­ry be­side Thee;
Give to us peace
In our time, O Lord.

God the all wise!
By the fire of Thy chast­en­ing,
Earth shall to free­dom
And truth be re­stored;
Through the thick dark­ness
Thy king­dom is hast­en­ing;
Thou wilt give peace
In Thy time, O Lord.

So shall Thy child­ren,
With thank­ful de­vo­tion,
Praise Him who saved them
From per­il and sword,
Singing in chorus
From ocean to ocean,
Peace to the na­tions,
And praise to the Lord.