Give to our God immortal praise. I. Watts. [Ps. cxxxvi.] This L.M. version of Ps. 136 appeared in his Psalms of David in 1719, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines. In modern collections we find it given thus:—
1. The original in the New Congregational Hymn Book, No. 227; Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, No. 136, and others; and in the Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858-80, No. 8, with stanza v., line 1, "Israel" for "The Jews" of the original.
2. A cento composed of stanzas i., iv., vii. and viii. This was given in Cotterill's Selection, 1810-19, and from thence has passed into numerous collections, including Windle, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Psalms & Hymns, and Stevenson's Hymns for Church & Home, amongst modern hymnals, with slight variations in the refrain. This is the most popular form of the hymn.
3. A cento combining stanzas i.-iv. and vii., viii. This appeared in Conyers's Collection, 1161, and amongst later hymnals the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853, the Islington Psalms & Hymns, Kemble's New Church Hymn Book, and other collections. This form is also in use in America.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)