Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#181

181. Exalt the LORD, His Praise Proclaim

1 Exalt the LORD, his praise proclaim;
all you his servants, praise his name,
who in the LORD's house ever stand
and humbly serve at his command.
The LORD is good, his praise proclaim;
since it is pleasant, praise his name.
His people for his own he takes
and his own special treasure makes.

2 I know the LORD is high in state;
above all gods our Lord is great.
The LORD performs what he decrees,
in heaven and earth, in depths and seas.
He makes the vapors to ascend
in clouds from earth's remotest end;
the lightnings flash at his command;
he holds the tempest in his hand.

3 Exalt the LORD, his praise proclaim;
all you his servants, praise his name,
who in the LORD's house ever stand
and humbly serve at his command.
Forever praise and bless his name,
and in the church his praise proclaim.
In Zion is his dwelling place;
O praise the LORD, show forth his grace.

Text Information

• First Line: Exalt the LORD, his praise proclaim
• Title: Exalt the LORD, His Praise Proclaim
• Meter: LMD
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 135:1-21
• Topic: King, God/Christ as; Praise & Adoration; Creation; Ministry & Service; Providence
• Source: Psalter, 1887; rev. Psalter, 1912, alt.

Tune Information

• Name: CREATION
• Composer: Franz J. Haydn (1798)
• Meter: LMD
• Key: G Major

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Ps. 135:1-4
st. 2 = Ps. 135:5-7
st. 3 = Ps. 135:1-2, 19-21

This versification of parts of Psalm 135 comes from the The Book of Psalms (1871), a text-only psalter that was later published with music in 1887. Minor alterations were made in various later psalters, including that of 1912. These stanzas are basically the call-to-praise sections that frame Psalm 135. For further commentary on this psalm see PHH 135.

Liturgical Use:
Beginning of worship or similar situations calling for festive praise; see also PHH 135.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

The tune CREATION is taken from the chorus “The Heavens Are Telling” from the well known oratorio The Creation (1798) by Franz Joseph Haydn (b. Rohrau, Austria, 1732; d. Vienna, Austria, 1809). Haydn's life was relatively uneventful, but his artistic legacy was truly astounding. He began his musical career as a choirboy in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, spent some years in that city making a precarious living as a music teacher and composer, and then served as music director for the Esterhazy family from 1761 to 1790. Haydn became a most productive and widely respected composer of symphonies, chamber music, and piano sonatas. In his retirement years he took two extended tours to England, which resulted in his "London" symphonies and (because of G. F. Handel's influence) in oratorios. Haydn's church music includes six great Masses and a few original hymn tunes. Hymnal editors have also arranged hymn tunes from various themes in Haydn's music.

William Gardiner (PHH 111) altered CREATION to long-meter double in 1812; it was published in its present form in 1848 in Mason and Webb's The National Psalmist. CREATION is essentially a bar form (AABB') with a harmony well-suited to part singing; take it on a half-note pulse.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook