Psalm 65
Words: Isaac Watts
There is also a Long Metre version of this Psalm on this page
Part 1. A prayer-hearing God, and the Gentiles called
1 Praise waits in Zion, Lord, for thee;
There shall our vows be paid:
Thou hast an ear when sinners pray;
All flesh shall seek thine aid.
2 Lord, our iniquities prevail,
But pard'ning grace is thine;
And thou wilt grant us power and skill
To conquer ev'ry sin.
3 Blessed are the men whom thou wilt choose
To bring them near thy face,
Give them a dwelling in thine house,
To feast upon thy grace.
4 In answ'ring what thy church requests
Thy truth and terror shine,
And works of dreadful righteousness
Fulfill thy kind design.
5 Thus shall the wond'ring nations see
The Lord is good and just;
And distant islands fly to thee,
And make thy name their trust.
6 They dread thy glitt'ring tokens, Lord,
When signs in heav'n appear;
But they shall learn thy holy word,
And love as well as fear.
Part 2. The providence of God in air, earth, and sea.
1 'Tis by thy strength the mountains stand,
God of eternal power;
The sea grows calm at thy command,
And tempests cease to roar.
2 Thy morning light and ev'ning shade
Successive comforts bring;
Thy plenteous fruits make harvest glad,
Thy flowers adorn the spring.
3 Seasons and times, and moons and hours,
Heav'n, earth, and air, are thine;
When clouds distil in fruitful showers,
The Author is divine.
4 Those wand'ring cisterns in the sky,
Borne by the winds around,
With wat'ry treasures well supply
The furrows of the ground.
5 The thirsty ridges drink their fill,
And ranks of corn appear;
The ways abound with blessings still,
'thy goodness crowns the year.
Part 3. The blessings of the spring; or, God gives rain. A Psalm for the husbandman.
1 Good is the Lord, the heav'nly King,
Who makes the earth his care;
Visits the pastures ev'ry spring,
And bids the grass appear.
2 The clouds, like rivers raised on high,
Pour out at thy command
Their wat'ry blessings from the sky,
To cheer the thirsty land.
3 The softened ridges of the field
Permit the corn to spring;
The valleys rich provision yield,
And the poor lab'rers sing.
4 The little hills, on ev'ry side,
Rejoice at falling showers;
The meadows, dressed in all their pride,
Perfume the air with flowers.
5 The barren clods, refreshed with rain,
Promise a joyful crop;
The parching grounds look green again,
And raise the reaper's hope.
6 The various months thy goodness crowns;
How bounteous are thy ways!
The bleating flocks spread o'er the downs,
And shepherds shout thy praise.
Part 1. v. 1--5 Public prayer and praise.
1 The praise of Zion waits for thee,
My God, and praise becomes thy house;
There shall thy saints thy glory see,
And there perform their public vows.
2 O thou whose mercy bends the skies
To save when humble sinners pray,
All lands to thee shall lift their eyes,
And islands of the northern sea.
3 Against my will my sins prevail,
But grace shall purge away their stain;
The blood of Christ will never fail
To wash my garments white again.
4 Blessed is the man whom thou shalt choose,
And give him kind access to thee;
Give him a place within thy house,
To taste thy love divinely free.
PAUSE.
5 Let Babel fear when Zion prays;
Babel, prepare for long distress,
When Zion's God himself arrays
In terror and in righteousness.
6 With dreadful glory God fulfils
What his afflicted saints request;
And with almighty wrath reveals
His love, to give his churches rest.
7 Then shall the flocking nations run
To Zion's hill, and own their Lord;
The rising and the setting sun
Shall see the Savior's name adored.
Part 2. v. 5--13 Divine Providence in air, earth, and sea.
1 The God of our salvation hears
The groans of Zion mixed with tears;
Yet when he comes with kind designs,
Through all the way his terror shines.
2 On him the race of man depends,
Far as the earth's remotest ends,
Where the Creator's name is known
By nature's feeble light alone.
3 Sailors, that travel o'er the flood,
Address their frighted souls to God,
When tempests rage and billows roar
At dreadful distance from the shore.
4 He bids the noisy tempests cease;
He calms tile raging crowd to peace,
When a tumultuous nation raves
Wild as the winds, and loud as waves.
5 Whole kingdoms, shaken by tile storm,
He settles in a peaceful form;
Mountains, established by his hand,
Firm on their old foundations stand.
6 Behold his ensigns sweep the sky,
New comets blaze, and lightnings fly;
The heathen lands, with swift surprise,
From the bright horrors turn their eyes.
7 At his command the morning ray
Smiles in the east, and leads the day;
He guides the sun's declining wheels
Over the tops of western hills.
8 Seasons and times obey his voice;
The ev'ning and tile morn rejoice
To see the earth made soft with showers,
Laden with fruit, and dressed in flowers.
9 'Tis from his wat'ry stores on high
He gives the thirsty ground supply;
He walks upon the clouds, and thence
Doth his enriching drops dispense.
10 The desert grows a fruitful field,
Abundant food the valleys yield;
The valleys shout with cheerful voice,
And neighb'ring hills repeat their joys.
11 The pastures smile in green array;
There lambs and larger cattle play;
The larger cattle and the lamb
Each in his language speaks thy name.
12 Thy works pronounce thy power divine;
O'er ev'ry field thy glories shine;
Through ev'ry month thy gifts appear;
Great God, thy goodness crowns the year!
