Back

God is our refuge and our strength

Authors:

The Psalter, 1912

Themes:

Scriptures:

Numbers 14:9
2 Chronicles 13:12
2 Chronicles 20:17
Job 9:5-6
Psalms 2:1-2
Psalms 46
Psalms 66:5
Psalms 76:3
Psalms 87:1-3
Psalms 94:22
Isaiah 2:4
Isaiah 26:1
Ezekiel 47:1-12
Ezekiel 48:35
Joel 2:31
Joel 3:16
Amos 5:14-15
Micah 4:3
Revelation 22:1-2

Book Number:

God is our refuge and our strength,
our ever-present aid,
and therefore though the earth should move,
we will not be afraid;
though hills are thrown into the sea,
though foaming waters roar,
and though the mighty earthquake moves
the mountains on the shore.

2. A river flows whose streams make glad
the city of our God,
the holy place in which the Lord
most High has his abode;
since God is in the midst of her,
unmoved her walls shall stand,
for God will help at break of day,
when trouble is at hand.

3. The nations rage, and kingdoms fall,
but when his voice is heard
all earthly power shall melt away
before his mighty word.
The Lord of hosts is on our side,
our safety to secure;
the God of Jacob is for us
a refuge strong and sure.

4. O come and see what mighty works
the hand of God has done;
come, see what desolation great
he brings beneath the sun.
To utmost ends of all the earth
he causes wars to cease;
the weapons of the strong destroyed,
he makes a lasting peace.

5. ‘Be still and know that I am God,
set over all on high;
the humbled nations of the earth
my name shall magnify.’
The Lord of hosts is on our side,
our safety to secure;
the God of Jacob is for us
a refuge strong and sure.

Approaching God - Adoration and Thanksgiving

Downloadable Items

Would you like access to our downloadable resources?

Unlock downloadable content for this hymn by subscribing today. Enjoy exclusive resources and expand your collection with our additional curated materials!

Subscribe now

If you already have a subscription, log in here to regain access to your items.

Tunes

Materna
Metre:
- CMD (Common Metre Double: 86 86 D)
Composer:
- Ward, Samuel Augustus
St Matthew
Metre:
- CMD (Common Metre Double: 86 86 D)
Composer:
- Croft, William

The story behind the hymn

This strong, fortifying Psalm has been linked by some with Israel’s deliverance from Sennacherib’s Assyrians in 2 Kings 18–19. The first of these 2 versions of the text, also represented in Praise! by 888, is an adaptation of the Psalter 1912 paraphrase. Of all the possible approaches, this is also preferred by both CH and GH, which retain the name ‘Jehovah’ at 4.2. The present book adds some necessary punctuation in v5. For the Christian, the assurance that ‘God is in the midst of her’ is a foretaste of ‘Jesus our Immanuel’—God with us; see Matthew 1:21, 18:20, and 28:20; also John 14:23 etc. Isaac Watts’ text God is the refuge of his saints is another enduring paraphrase. V9 in Scripture, and stz 4 in this text, are made vivid in Gordon Jackson’s 1993 version: ‘Over every foot of earth he has stamped out war; he has made all armaments redundant’. MATERNA (also known as WARD or CIVITAS DEI) is a tune better known in the USA than in Britain, having been paired with O beautiful for spacious skies (‘America! America!’) since 1912. Samuel Ward composed it for O mother dear, Jerusalem, also a rarity in the UK. An employee at his music store said that it was composed while crossing New York Harbour in 1882 after an outing to Coney Island, and sung at Grace Episcopal Church by a 200- strong male choir. His son-in-law Henry Armstrong, however, claimed that it was written in 1885 to commemorate the early death of Ward’s eldest daughter Clara. It was printed in a journal The Parish Choir in 1888, then in Charles Hutchins’ Church Hymnal, 1894.

A look at the author

The Psalter, 1912

A notable landmark in the line of Scottish metrical Psalters beginning with the classic 1650 collection, which remained unchallenged for nearly a century until revisions began in 1745; the 1912 book was the last significant one of its kind before Sing Psalms qv. Nos.46A, 87, 93, 94, 111, 119C, 119F, 135, 140.