Scripture Verse

Under His wings shalt thou trust…Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Psalm 91:4–7

Introduction

portrait
Richard W. Adams (1952–)

Words: Ar­ranged from James Ni­chol­son (1828–1876) by Ri­chard W. Ad­ams, April 5, 2020 (pub­lic do­main). Click here for an­oth­er ar­range­ment.

Music: Green Fields from The Pea­sant Can­ta­ta (Mer hahn en neue Ob­er­keet), by Jo­hann S. Bach, 1742. Ar­ranged by Lew­is Ed­son in The Cho­rist­er’s Com­pan­ion (New Ha­ven, Con­nec­ti­cut: 1782) (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Johann S. Bach (1685–1750)

Background

I wrote this ar­range­ment dur­ing the co­ro­na­vir­us pan­de­mic.

I had just fin­ished watch­ing our church’s Palm Sun­day ser­vice. The ser­vice was broad­cast by stream­ing vi­deo ov­er the In­ter­net (since we weren’t sup­posed to ga­ther in groups of more than 10 people).

Richard Adams, 2020

Lyrics

In God I have found a re­treat
Where I can se­cure­ly re­side;
No re­fuge, nor rest so com­plete,
And here may I al­ways abide.

Refrain

Oh, pre­cious the com­fort it brings,
And sweet is my song as it rings;
No dang­er or harm do I fear,
Secure in the shade of His wings.

I dread not the ter­ror by night,
Nor arrow that flies in the day;
His sha­dow has co­vered my head,
My fears He has driv­en away.

Refrain

The pes­ti­lence stalk­ing about,
When dark­ness has set­tled abroad,
Can ne­ver per­suade me to doubt
The pre­sence and pow­er of God.

Refrain

The wast­ing de­struc­tion at noon,
No fear­ful fore­bod­ing can bring;
With Je­sus, my soul does com­mune,
His per­fect sal­va­tion I sing.

Refrain

A thou­sand may fall at my side,
Ten thou­sand may die in the land;
Above me His wings are spread wide,
Beneath them in safe­ty I stand.

Refrain