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Advent Hymnals

Hymns and Tunes 1886 55

O God, how great thy glory is

Music: Isaac WattsTune: 60, 632, 70660, 632, 706

Studio

1O God, how great thy glory is!
Thy wondrous ways, O who can know?
O higher thoughts than thankless are!
Thy countless attributes to show?

2Greatness unspeakable is thine,—
Greatness where all is darkness, shall
shine,
When short-lived worlds are fled away.

3Unchangeable, all-perfect Lord,
Essential life's unbounded sea,
What lives and moves, and is, from thee.

4High is thy power above all Rest,
Whatever thy will decrees, is done;
Thy wisdom, equal to thy might,
Only to thee, O God, is known!

Tune
60, 632, 706
Meter
60, 632, 706

Public Domain

The verse

Meter
8.8.8.8 · the hymnal prints 60, 632, 706
Foot
iambic (da-DUM) · 52% of beats fit
Rhyme
ABCB
Scan every line

/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary

Verse 1

O God, how great thy glory is!˘/////˘˘8A
Thy wondrous ways, O who can know?//˘/˘˘˘/8B
O higher thoughts than thankless are!˘/˘/˘/˘˘8C
Thy countless attributes to show?//˘/˘/˘/8B

Verse 2

Greatness unspeakable is thine,—/˘˘/˘˘˘/8A
Greatness where all is darkness, shall/˘//˘/˘˘8B
shine,/1A
When short-lived worlds are fled away.////˘/˘/8C

Verse 3

Unchangeable, all-perfect Lord,???????/8A
Essential life's unbounded sea,˘/˘/˘/˘/8B
What lives and moves, and is, from thee.˘/˘/˘˘˘/8B

Verse 4

High is thy power above all Rest,/˘//˘˘///9A
Whatever thy will decrees, is done;//˘/˘˘/˘/9B
Thy wisdom, equal to thy might,//˘/˘˘/˘8C
Only to thee, O God, is known!/˘˘/˘/˘/8D

Counted by machine from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. It cannot hear emphasis or a poet’s licence, so treat it as a place to start reading, not the last word.