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Hymns and Tunes 1886 63

Praise ye the Lord!—'tis good to raise

Music: Isaac WattsTune: 5, 70, 665, 70, 66

1Praise ye the Lord!—'tis good to raise
Our hearts and voices in his praise;
His nature and his works invite
To make this duty our delight.

2The Lord builds up Jerusalem,
And gathers nations to his arm;
He heals the broken spirit sad,
And makes the contrite heart glad.

3He formed the stars,—those heavenly flames,
He counts their numbers, calls their names;
His wisdom's vast, and knows no bound,
A deep, whereof no fathom's found.

4Great is our Lord, and great his might,
And all his glories infinite;
He crowns the meek, rewards the just,
And treads the wicked in the dust.

5But saints are lovely in his sight,
He views his children with delight;
He sees their hope, he knows their fear,
And looks, and loves his image there.

6Proclaim him King, pronounce him blest;
He's your defence, your joy, your rest;
When terrors rise and nations faint,
God is the strength of every saint.

Tune
5, 70, 66
Meter
5, 70, 66

Public Domain

The verse

Meter
8.9.8.9 · the hymnal prints 5, 70, 66
Foot
iambic (da-DUM) · 63% of beats fit
Rhyme
AABB
Scan every line

/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary

Verse 1

Praise ye the Lord!—'tis good to raise//˘///˘/8A
Our hearts and voices in his praise;/˘/˘/˘˘˘/9A
His nature and his works invite˘/˘˘˘///8B
To make this duty our delight.˘/˘/˘/˘˘/9B

Verse 2

The Lord builds up Jerusalem,˘//˘˘/˘˘8A
And gathers nations to his arm;˘/˘/˘˘˘/8B
He heals the broken spirit sad,˘/˘/˘/˘/8C
And makes the contrite heart glad.˘/˘˘///7C

Verse 3

He formed the stars,—those heavenly flames,˘/˘/˘/˘˘/9A
He counts their numbers, calls their names;˘/˘/˘/˘/8A
His wisdom's vast, and knows no bound,˘/˘/˘/˘/8B
A deep, whereof no fathom's found.˘/??˘/˘/8B

Verse 4

Great is our Lord, and great his might,/˘/˘/˘/˘˘9A
And all his glories infinite;˘/˘/˘/˘˘8B
He crowns the meek, rewards the just,˘/˘/˘/˘/8C
And treads the wicked in the dust.˘/˘/˘˘˘/8C

Verse 5

But saints are lovely in his sight,˘/˘/˘˘˘/8A
He views his children with delight;˘/˘/˘˘˘/8A
He sees their hope, he knows their fear,˘/˘/˘/˘/8B
And looks, and loves his image there.˘/˘/˘/˘/8C

Verse 6

Proclaim him King, pronounce him blest;˘/˘/˘/˘/8A
He's your defence, your joy, your rest;/˘˘/˘/˘/8A
When terrors rise and nations faint,//˘/˘/˘/8B
God is the strength of every saint./˘˘/˘/˘˘/9B

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.