My All-Time Favorite Hymn

This hymn is sadly little known, but is probably my all-time favorite. I owe the "discovery" to my brother Caleb, who bought the CD on which I first heard it years ago. The lyrics were penned by Isaac Watts as a paraphrase/theological commentary on Isaiah 49:13-17. The tune was composed by colonial American composer William Billings. The singers are known as "His Majestie's Clerkes" (yes, this is spelled correctly--in British standard English).

Scripture:


Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the LORD has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
Your builders make haste;
your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
(Isaiah 49:13-17 ESV)


Audio/Video: (lyrics below)

Lyrics:

Now shall my inward joys arise
And burst into a song
Almighty love inspires my heart
And pleasure tunes my tongue.

God on his thirsty Zion hill
Some mercy drops has thrown
And solemn oaths hath bound his love
To shower salvation down.

Why do we then indulge our fears,
Suspicions, and complaints?
Is he a God? And shall his grace
Grow weary of his saints?

Can a kind woman e'er forget
The infant of her womb?
And 'mongst a thousand tender thoughts
Her suckling have no room?

'Yet,' saith the LORD, 'should nature change
And mothers monsters prove,
Zion still dwells upon the heart
Of everlasting love.

Deep on the palms of both my hands
I have engraved her name;
My hands shall raise her ruined walls
And build her broken frame.'

Lyrics: Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Tune: "Africa;" William Billings, c. 1770