Scripture Verse

Enter His gates with thanksgiving. Psalm 100:4

Introduction

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Benjamin Schmolck
(1672–1737)

Words: Ben­ja­min Schmolck, 1730 (Thut mir auf die schöne Pforte). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­the­rine Wink­worth, Cho­rale Book for Eng­land (Lon­don: Long­man, Green, Long­man, Ro­berts & Green, 1863), num­ber 15.

Music: Un­ser Herr­scher Jo­ach­im Ne­an­der, 1680 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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Joachim Neander
(1650–1680)

Lyrics

Open now thy gates of beau­ty,
Zion, let me en­ter there,
Where my soul in joy­ful du­ty
Waits for Him who an­swers pray­er.
Oh, how bless­èd is this place,
Filled with sol­ace, light and grace!

Lord, my God, I come be­fore Thee,
Come Thou al­so un­to me;
Where we find Thee and ado­re Thee,
There a heav’n on earth must be.
To my heart, oh, en­ter Thou,
Let it be Thy tem­ple now!

Here Thy praise is glad­ly chant­ed,
Here Thy seed is du­ly sown;
Let my soul, where it is plant­ed,
Bring forth pre­cious sheaves alone,
So that all I hear may be
Fruitful un­to life in me.

Thou my faith in­crease and quick­en,
Let me keep Thy gift di­vine,
Howsoe’er temp­ta­tions thick­en;
May Thy Word still o’er me shine
As my guid­ing star through life,
As my com­fort in my strife.

Speak, O God, and I will hear Thee,
Let Thy will be done in­deed;
May I un­dis­turbed draw near Thee
While Thou dost Thy peo­ple feed.
Here of life the foun­tain flows,
Here is balm for all our woes.