Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#188

188. Praise the LORD, Sing Hallelujah

1 Praise the LORD, sing hallelujah,
from the heavens praise his name;
praise the LORD, our great Creator;
all his angels, praise proclaim.
All his hosts, together praise him,
sun and moon and stars on high;
praise the LORD, O heavens of heavens,
and the floods above the sky.

Refrain:
Praise the LORD, sing hallelujah,
for his name alone is high,
and his glory is exalted,
and his glory is exalted,
and his glory is exalted,
far above the earth and sky.

2 Let them praise the LORD their Maker:
they were made at his command.
God established them forever;
his decree shall ever stand.
Let the earth sing hallelujah:
raging seas, you monsters all,
fire and hail and snow and vapors,
stormy winds that hear his call. [Refrain]

3 All you fruitful trees and cedars,
every hill and mountain high,
creeping things and beasts and cattle,
birds that in the heavens fly,
kings of earth and all you people,
princes great, earth's judges all;
praise his name, young men and maidens,
aged men, and children small. [Refrain]

Text Information

• First Line: Praise the LORD, sing hallalujah
• Title: Praise the LORD, Sing Hallelujah
• Refrain First Line: Praise the LORD, sing hallelujah
• Meter: 87 87 D with refrain
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 148
• Topic: Doxologies; Family; King, God/Christ as; Songs for Children: Bible Songs; Alleluias; Creation; Majesty of God; Providence
• Source: Bible Songs Hymnal, 1927; alt.

Tune Information

• Name: PRAISE JEHOVAH
• Composer: William J. Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921
• Meter: 87 87 D with refrain
• Key: F Major

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Ps. 148: 1-4
st. 2 = Ps. 148:5-8
st. 3 = Ps. 148:9-12
ref. = Ps. 148:13-14

This versification of Psalm 148 is found in various later nineteenth-century Presbyterian psalters in the United States. All editions of the Psalter Hymnal have included this text to the tune PRAISE JEHOVAH as combined in the 1927 United Presbyterian Bible Songs Hymnal. See PHH 148 for textual commentary on Psalm 148.

Liturgical Use
See PHH 148.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

PRAISE JEHOVAH was composed by William J. Kirkpatrick (b. Duncannon, PA, 1838; d. Philadelphia, PA, 1921) and joined in the 1890s to this versification of Psalm 148, with the original seventh stanza becoming the refrain. The tune was published with an 1899 copyright date in Life Songs, a 1916 publication of the Mennonite Publishing House.

Kirkpatrick received his musical training from his father and several other private teachers. A carpenter by trade, he engaged in the furniture business from 1862 to 1878. He left that profession to dedicate his life to music, serving as music director at Grace Methodist Church in Philadelphia. Kirkpatrick compiled some one hundred gospel song collections; his first, Devotional Melodies (1859), was published when he was only twenty-one years old. Many of these collections were first published by the John Hood Company and later by Kirkpatrick's own Praise Publishing Company, both in Philadelphia.

PRAISE JEHOVAH (also known as KIRKPATRICK and AINOS) is a splendid example of the best of gospel hymn writing: a strong melody, a variety of rhythms, and some independence in the harmony parts (especially in the refrain). Well-suited to part singing, PRAISE JEHOVAH can be sung in the common stanza-refrain pattern, but the order of the text would suggest singing the refrain (which can also be considered st. 4) only after stanzas 1 through 3. Try antiphonal singing on the three stanzas; have everyone sing the refrain. Sing the dotted rhythms crisply to distinguish them clearly from the regular eighth notes.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook