Scripture Verse

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians 15:55

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

Words: Is­aac Watts, Hymns and Spir­it­ual Songs 1707. The orig­in­al ti­tle was O for an Ov­er­com­ing Faith; it was re­cast in the Church of Scot­land’s Trans­la­tions and Pa­ra­phras­es in 1781, where the re­vised ver­sion was at­trib­ut­ed to Will­iam Cam­er­on.

Music: Mount Auburn George Kings­ley (1811–1884) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Cam­er­on or Kings­ley (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

When the last trum­pet’s aw­ful voice
This rend­ing earth shall shake;
When op­en­ing graves shall yield their charge
And dust to life awake;

Those bodies that cor­rupt­ed fell
Shall in­cor­rupt arise,
And mor­tal forms shall spring to life
Immortal in the skies.

Behold, what heav­en­ly pro­phets sung
Is now at last ful­filled;
And Death yields up his an­cient reign,
And, van­quished, quits the field.

Let Faith ex­alt her joy­ful voice,
And now in tri­umph sing:
O Grave, where is thy vic­to­ry?
And where, O Death, thy sting?