Setting of Psalm 134

[W.C. Dean]

Hello everyone. I was going through my Trinity Psalter-Hymnal today and discovered that while the Psalter attached Ps. 134 to Old Hundredth, it butchered the text to the nth degree. What is the most faithful long meter setting of Ps. 134 you know of? I made this one today. I tried to stick to the KJV closely. I had Old Hundredth in mind when arranging it.
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1Be-hold bless ye the LORD our God
all ye the servants of the LORD
which by the night stand in his house
in the house of the LORD our God

2Lift your hands in the sacred place
And there within bless ye the LORD
3The LORD that made the heav’ns and earth
May he bless thee out of Zi-on
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I italicized every part I edited or added from the KJV. I also substituted sanctuary for sacred place based on what I read about the definition of the Hebrew phrase.

 

[Ben Zartman]

The 1912 Psalter has it thus:

Come all ye servants of the Lord
Lift up your voice with one accord
Jehovah's name to bless
Ye that are standing night by night
Within the house of His delight
His glorious name confess

Yea in His place of holiness
lift up your hands the Lord to bless
And unto you be given
The joys that Zion doth afford
The richest blessing of the Lord
Who made the earth and heaven

The meter is C.P.M. the tune "Wyoming"
I don't mind variety in meters--not everything needs to fit into one metric format. ( the Scottish Psalter enthusiasts might disagree )

 

[NaphtaliPress]

In checking psalm renditions for our church's psalter the problem most of the time is adding more words to make the tune rather than just words required to make the sense. This is why we ditched the 1912 settings often and I see we did so with 134 also for a new setting which is not our copyright in this case so I can't share it as was my intent when I started this reply.

 

[Jake]

Fun fact: The tune we call "Old 100th" was originally used for Psalm 134 in the Genevan Psalter. It became known in English for a setting of Psalm 100 though, hence the name we use.

Here is Psalm 134 in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter published by the Canadian Reformed Church, set to Old 100th.

 

[W.C. Dean]

Fun fact: The tune we call "Old 100th" was originally used for Psalm 134 in the Genevan Psalter. It became known in English for a setting of Psalm 100 though, hence the name we use.

Here is Psalm 134 in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter published by the Canadian Reformed Church, set to Old 100th.



View attachment 7470

That is the version found in the 2018 TPH. I thought it was quite embellished compared to the Biblical text. And old Hundredth being used for Ps. 134 is why I made the setting I posted here

 

[Jake]

Here are two other versions from the Genevan Psalter project:

Psalm 134
Lambertus J. Lamberts, 1928

Come, bless the LORD with one accord,<br />
You faithful servants of the LORD,<br />
Who in His house do stand by night;<br />
And praise Him there with all your might.<br />

Lift up your hands, in prayer draw nigh<br />
Unto His sanctuary high;<br />
O bless the LORD, kneel at His feet,<br />
And worship Him with reverence meet.<br />

The LORD now bless you from above,<br />
From Zion in His boundless love;<br />
Our God, who heaven and earth did frame,<br />
Blest be His great and holy Name.<br />

Psalm 134
Calvin Seerveld, 1981

You servants of the LORD our God<br />
Who work and pray both day and night,<br />
In God’s own house lift up your hands<br />
And praise the LORD with all your might.<br />


The LORD God bless you from his throne,<br />
The LORD show you his gracious face.<br />
He who created heaven and earth <br />
Give you his everlasting peace.<br />