The Lord God Reigns in Majesty

Representative Text

1 The LORD God reigns in majesty;
let all the nations quake.
He dwells between the cherubim;
let earth's foundations shake.
Supreme in Zion is the LORD,
exalted gloriously.
All nations, praise his name with awe:
the Holy One is he.

2 The mighty King loves justice well,
and equity ordains;
he rules his people righteously
and faithfulness maintains.
O magnify the LORD our God,
let him exalted be;
in worship at his footstool bow:
the Holy One is he.

3 When priests and prophets called on God,
he their petitions heard.
His cloudy pillar led them on,
and they obeyed his word.
Tho' sending judgments for their sins,
he pardoned graciously.
Exalt the LORD and worship him:
the Holy One is he.

Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #99B

Text Information

First Line: The Lord God reigns in majesty
Title: The Lord God Reigns in Majesty
Meter: 8.6.8.6 D
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

A call to praise the thrice-holy sovereign God of Israel for his grace.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-3
st. 2 = vv. 4-5
st. 3 = vv. 6-9

The Levites used Psalm 99 in the liturgy of a yearly high religious festival celebrating the LORD's worldwide rule (perhaps the Feast of Tabernacles). The psalm opens with a call to all nations to praise the God of Israel (st. 1), exhorts Israel to exalt their mighty King for performing righteous deeds in their behalf (st. 2), and recalls examples of God's gracious response to Israel's need for deliverance. It closes with a grateful remembrance of God's forgiveness (st. 3). Verses 3,5, and 9 close with "God is holy," a poetic echo of the trisagion (see Isa. 6:3) and a reflection of the ancient liturgical penchant for triple repetition. The versification (altered) is from the 1912 Psalter.

Liturgical Use:
Ascension (see also 47, 93, and 110); like the others in the cluster 92-100, this psalm is appropriate for many different worship occasions.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988

Tune

ELLACOMBE

Published in a chapel hymnal for the Duke of Würtemberg (Gesangbuch der Herzogl, 1784), ELLACOMBE (the name of a village in Devonshire, England) was first set to the words "Ave Maria, klarer und lichter Morgenstern." During the first half of the nineteenth century various German hymnals altered the…

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[Jehovah reigns in majesty]


NONE BUT CHRIST

James McGranahan (b. Adamsville, PA, 1840; d. Kinsman, OH, 1907) first published NONE BUT CHRIST in his Sacred Songs and Solos (1883) as the setting for the anonymous text "O Christ, in Thee My Soul Hath Found." NONE BUT CHRIST is a dynamic tune; because three of the lines open as a fanfare, brass a…

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #3424
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #99
  • Full Score (PDF, XML)
  • Bulletin Score (PDF)
  • Bulletin Score (melody only) (PDF)

Instances

Instances (1 - 3 of 3)
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Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #99

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #3424

TextPage Scan

Trinity Psalter Hymnal #99B

Include 7 pre-1979 instances
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