Scripture Verse

The Lord had made them joyful…to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God. Ezra 6:22

Introduction

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Percy Dearmer (1867–1936)

Words: The words were in­spired by a pray­er said by a dea­con dur­ing the Lord’s Sup­per in the Li­tur­gy of Ma­la­bar, a 5th Cen­tu­ry Nes­tor­i­an rite of the Mar Tho­mas Chris­tians on the south­ern coast of In­dia. Trans­lat­ed from Syr­i­ac to Eng­lish by Charles W. Hum­phreys & Per­cy Dear­mer in The Eng­lish Hym­nal (Lon­don: Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 329.

Music: Ach Gott und Herr in As Hym­no­dus Sa­cer, ed­it­ed by Chris­tian Gall (Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny: 1625). Adapt­ed & har­mo­nized by Jo­hann S. Bach (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Johann S. Bach (1685–1750)

Lyrics

Strengthen for ser­vice, Lord, the hands
That ho­ly things have tak­en;
Let ears that now have heard thy songs
To cla­mor ne­ver wak­en.

Lord, may the tongues which Ho­ly sang
Keep free from all de­cei­ving;
The eyes which saw Thy love be bright
Thy bless­èd hope per­ceiv­ing.

The feet that tread Thy ho­ly courts
From light do Thou not ban­ish;
The bo­dies by Thy bo­dy fed
With Thy new life re­plen­ish.