🡅 🡇 🞮
â–Ľ

WE LIFT OUR EYES, OUR HANDS, TO THEE

Scripture Verse

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

Introduction

portrait
James Montgomery
(1771–1854)
National Portrait Gallery

License button

Words: James Mont­gom­ery, Sac­red Po­ems and Hymns (New York: D. Ap­ple­ton, 1854), num­ber 278, alt. For a wet har­vest sea­son.

Music: Rock­ing­ham (Mill­er) Karl P. E. Bach (1714–1788). Ar­ranged by Ed­ward Mill­er, 1790 (🔊 ).

portrait
Edward Miller (1735–1807)
National Portrait Gallery

button

Lyrics

We lift our eyes, our hands, to Thee,
Our knees, our souls, to Thee we bend;
Thou Father of earth’s fa­mi­ly,
Th’appoint­ed weeks of har­vest send.

The ground, Thy ta­ble, is full spread
With food to nour­ish man and beast;
Hast Thou pre­pared the child­ren’s bread,
And wilt Thou now for­bid the feast?

In sum­mer, winter, day and night,
Both seed time, har­vest, Thou hast willed;
And dew and rain, and warmth and light,
Have each their gra­cious work ful­filled.

Shall whelm­ing floods the hopes de­stroy
Of those who in Thy pro­mise trust?
Shall storms pre­vent the reap­er’s joy,
And lay his con­fi­dence in dust?

O bid the winds and wa­ters cease,
The low­er­ing fir­ma­ment un­shroud;
Think on Thy co­ve­nant of peace,
Look on Thy bow—’tis in the cloud!

We fall ad­or­ing at Thy feet,
Our pray­er is heard, the veil is riv­en;
With pure heart of­fer­ings let us eat
The bread that com­eth down from Heav’n.