Scripture Verse

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 122:1

Introduction

illustration
Nahum Tate (1652–1715)

Words: From A New Ver­sion of the Psalms of Da­vid, by Na­hum Tate & Ni­cho­las Bra­dy, 1698.

Music: Mount Si­on Ho­ra­tio W. Par­ker, 1886 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

portrait
Horatio W. Parker (1863–1919)

Lyrics

O ’twas a joy­ful sound to hear
Our tribes de­vout­ly say,
Up, Is­ra­el! to the tem­ple haste,
And keep your fes­tal day.
At Sa­lem’s courts we must ap­pear,
With our as­sem­bled pow­ers,
In strong and beau­te­ous or­der ranged,
Like her unit­ed tow­ers.

O ev­er pray for Sa­lem’s peace;
For they shall pros­per­ous be,
Thou ho­ly ci­ty of our God,
Who bear true love to Thee.
May peace with­in Thy sac­red walls
A cons­tant guest be found;
With plen­ty and pros­pe­ri­ty
Thy pa­laces be crowned.

For my dear breth­ren’s sake, and friends
No less than breth­ren dear,
I’ll pray: May peace in Sa­lem’s tow­ers
A con­stant guest ap­pear.
But most of all I’ll seek thy good,
And ev­er wish thee well,
For Si­on and the tem­ple’s sake,
Where God vouch­safes to dwell.