This hymn is an English rendering of Psalm 135:1-6. I love singing the Psalms, and this is perhaps one of the most fitting to begin a Lord’s Day worship service. The lyrics are as follows:
Exalt the Lord, His praise proclaim;
All ye His servants, praise His Name,
Who in the Lord’s house ever stand
And humbly serve at His command.
The Lord is good, His praise proclaim;
Since it is pleasant, praise His Name;
His people for His own He takes
And His peculiar treasure makes.
I know the Lord is high in state,
Above all gods our Lord is great;
The Lord performs what He decrees,
In heaven and earth, in depths and seas.
He makes the vapors to ascend
In clouds from earth’s remotest end;
The lightnings flash at His command,
He holds the tempest in His hand.
Exalt the Lord, His praise proclaim;
All ye His servants, praise His Name,
Who in the Lord’s house ever stand
And humbly serve at His command,
Forever praise and bless His Name,
And in the church His praise proclaim;
In Zion is His dwelling place;
Praise ye the Lord, show forth His grace.
And while I’m thinking about it, the hymn puts verse 6 this way: ‘The Lord performs what he decrees, in heav’n and earth, in depths and seas.’ Of all the sermons I’ve heard in my life, one of my favorites is John Piper’s sermon on that text called ‘The Pleasure of God in All That He Does.’ If you’d like to check it out, you can read it or listen (by all means listen) HERE. There’s also a newer version by Piper (not the exact one I loved so much) available on YouTube HERE.
