O Lord of hosts, to Thee I cry,
Our fa­thers’ God, to Thee;
Let my pe­ti­tion reach Thine ear,
My pray­er ac­cept­ed be.
O God our shield, look Thou on us,
Reveal Thy­self in grace,
And let Thine own an­oint­ed one
Behold Thee face to face.

A sin­gle day with­in Thy courts,
Where I Thy beau­ty see,
Is bet­ter than a thou­sand days,
My God, apart from Thee.
A low­ly sta­tion in Thy house
Were dear­er to my heart
Than in the tents of wick­ed­ness
To claim the chief­est part.

A sun and shield is God, the Lord,
To light­en and de­fend;
The Lord to such as look to Him
Will grace and glo­ry send.
To those that walk in right­eous­ness
No good will He de­ny.
O Lord of hosts, how blest are they
Who on Thy grace re­ly!