By your name, O God, now save me

The difference between this and 52 is easy to miss if we disregard the Psalm titles; the earlier one confronts Doeg the foreigner, but here the treacherous ‘strangers’ are from David’s own tribe. The text is Helen Otte’s 1985 revision of the version published in The Book of Psalms for Singing in 1975. The revised words appeared first in The Psalter Hymnal (Christian Reformed Church, USA) in 1987. The tune ARFON is claimed by both the French and the Welsh. The former point to two carol collections from 1875 and 1885, where it is called ‘traditional’ but set to two different texts; but Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634–1704) includes something very like it in his Petite Messe de Minuit based on French Carol tunes. The latter claim it as a folk song reflected in a Welsh book of 1879 but echoing one from 1794. The 1906 EH, which set it to Throned upon the awful tree, helped to establish the tune in England. The 1965 Anglican Hymn Book labels it ‘Welsh Hymn Melody (possibly a French Carol)’.

b ?USA 1931. An American writer who has revised older Psalm versions and made new paraphrases; 14 of these and 2 hymns, all from the 1980s, feature in the Psalter Hymnal of the Christian Reformed Church in N America (1987); some have also been printed in the journal Reformed Worship. One paraphrase of Jer 31, I am the LORD your God; you are my people is set to Lvov’s tune RUSSIA (=RUSSIAN ANTHEM); see note to 249 in EP vol 1. She belongs to the ‘Poets’ Workshop’ which specialises in versifying Scripture; and has also published stories for children. Her home is at Downs, Kansas. No.54*.