Listen, All People Who Live in This World

Listen, all people who live in this world

Versifier: Helen Otte (1984)
Tune: JULIUS (Shaw)
Published in 1 hymnal

Audio files: MIDI
Representative text cannot be shown for this hymn due to copyright.

Versifier: Helen Otte

Helen Ann (Brink) Otte Walter (b. Grand Rapids, MI, 1931) versified this psalm in 1982 for the Psalter Hymnal. She received her education at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has worked as a teacher, proofreader, and librarian. She was a member of the Poets' Workshop that worked with the revision committee to prepare psalm versifications for the 1987 Psalter Hymnal. After her first husband died and she remarried, she remained active as a freelance writer, especially of children's stories and dramas, some of which have been published in Reformed Worship under the name Helen Walter. Bert Polman Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Listen, all people who live in this world
Title: Listen, All People Who Live in This World
Versifier: Helen Otte (1984)
Meter: 10.10.10.10
Language: English
Copyright: Text © 1987, CRC Publications

Notes

Godly counsel against fear or awe of the godless wealthy.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-4
st. 2 = vv. 5-9
st. 3 = vv. 10-11
st.4 = vv.12-15
st. 5 = vv. 16-20

Traditionally ascribed to (or assigned to) "the Sons of Korah," Psalm 49, like Psalms 1, 34, 37, 73, and 112, gives instruction in godly wisdom. It calls God's people to hear wise counsel (st. 1) against fear or awe of the wealthy, especially those who trust in riches rather than in God. Death takes them too, and no ransom payment can ward it off (st. 2). They are fools whose final home is the grave (st. 3). While death is the shepherd of those who trust in themselves, God redeems the godly from the grave and takes them to himself (st. 4). "Do not be overawed," says the psalmist (v. 16), by the wealth and honor of the rich (st. 5); "one who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish" (v. 20). Helen Otte (PHH 17) paraphrased Psalm 49 in unrhymed dactylic meter in 1984 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
Occasions when the church speaks out against materialism and all forms of proud secularism.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

JULIUS (Shaw)

Martin Edward Fallas Shaw (b. Kensington, London, England, 1875; d. Southwold, Suffolk, England, 1958) composed JULIUS for J. S. Arkwright's iambic text "O Valiant Hearts" and named the tune in memory of his brother, who was reported missing in World War I. JULIUS was first published in Sir Sydney N…

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Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #49

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