Give Glory to God, All You Heavenly Creatures

Give glory to God, all you heavenly creatures

Versifier: Calvin Seerveld (1983)
Tune: ARLES
Published in 3 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Sibelius
Audio files: MIDI

Versifier: Calvin Seerveld

Calvin Seerveld (b. 1930 in New York) received a BA from Calvin College in 1952, an MA in English literature and classics from the University of Michigan in 1953. He then went on to study under D. H. Th. Vollenhoven at the Free University (VU) in Amsterdam, where his doctoral dissertation dealt with Croce's aesthetics. It was supervised by Vollenhoven and Carlo Antoni. He then taught philosophy and German at Trinity Christian College, and went on to teach philosophical aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. Seerveld has been influential in the reformational movement. In fact he was the first to coin the term 'reformational' to describe the philosophical aspects of neo-Calvinism. He has taken Dooyeweerd's aesthetic… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Related Texts

First Line: Give glory to God, all you heavenly creatures
Title: Give Glory to God, All You Heavenly Creatures
Versifier: Calvin Seerveld (1983)
Meter: 12.11.12.11
Language: English
Copyright: © Calvin Seerveld
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Notes

A call to praise the Creator, whose majesty and might as displayed in the thunderstorm is the source of the people's security and welfare.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-2
st. 2 = vv. 3-4
st. 3 = vv. 5-6
st. 4 = vv. 7-9
st. 5 = vv. 9-10

Psalm 29 attributes to the God of Israel what the Canaanites attributed to Baal–the divine majesty and power seen in the awesome sights and sounds and force of a thunderstorm. After the opening call to the great powers of creation to glorify the LORD (st. I), the main body of the psalm (st. 2-4) evokes the experience of thunderstorms in northern Canaan as they form over the Mediterranean ("the waters"), sweep across the Lebanon ranges, and spend themselves over the desert-like steppe to the east. Appropriately "the voice of the LORD," that is, thunder (in Baal mythology, the voice of Baal), sounds seven times in this psalm (vv. 3-9). Such displays of divine might may cause Baal worshipers to tremble, but true believers praise their God exuberantly, knowing that the LORD of the thunderstorm gives strength to his people and blesses them with peace (st. 5). Calvin Seerveld (PHH 22) versified this psalm in 1983 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
Whenever the people of God want to express their praise to the Lord as the One who sits enthroned in the heavens, rules over all creation as King forever, and blesses and sustains his people.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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Tune

ARLES

ARLES was composed by Charles H. Gabriel (PHH 24), a prolific composer of gospel hymn tunes; it was associated with this psalm in the 1912 Psalter. Named after the French city, ARLES bears energetic, rhythmically precise accompaniment and four-part singing. For variety and contrast, sing the stanzas…

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Timeline

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Media

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #29
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Instances

Instances (3)TextImageAudioScore
Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #114Image
Psalms for All Seasons: a complete Psalter for worship #29CImage
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #29TextImageAudioScore
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