Scripture Verse

The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud…and by night in a pillar of fire. Exodus 13:21

Introduction

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Walter Scott (1771–1832)

Words: Wal­ter Scott, 1817.

Music: Mel­combe Sam­uel Webbe, Sr., 1782 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Samuel Webbe (1740–1816)

In chap­ter 40 of Ivan­hoe, Scott in­tro­duces the hymn:

It was in the twi­light of the day when her tri­al, if it could be called such, had ta­ken place, that a low knock was heard at Re­bec­ca’s pris­on cham­ber. It dis­turbed not the in­mate, who was then en­gaged in the ev­en­ing pray­er re­com­mend­ed by her re­li­gion, and which con­clud­ed with a hymn we have ven­tured thus to trans­late into Eng­lish…

Lyrics

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Israelites Led by the Pillar of Fire by Night
William West, 1845

When Is­ra­el, of the Lord be­loved,
Out from the land of bond­age came,
Her fa­ther’s God be­fore her moved,
An aw­ful guide, in smoke and flame.

There rose the chor­al hymn of praise,
And trump and tim­brel an­swered keen,
And Zion’s daugh­ters poured their lays,
With priest’s and war­ri­or’s voice be­tween.

By day, along th’as­ton­ished lands
The clou­dy pil­lar glid­ed slow;
By night, Ara­bia’s crim­soned sands
Returned the fie­ry col­umn’s glow.

Thus pre­sent still, though now un­seen,
When bright­ly shines the pros­per­ous day,
Be thoughts of Thee a clou­dy screen,
To tem­per the de­ceit­ful ray.

And O, when ga­thers on our path,
In shade and storm, the fre­quent night,
Be Thou, long suf­fer­ing, slow to wrath,
A burn­ing and a shin­ing light.