Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#66

66. Come, Everyone, and Join with Us

Text Information

• First Line: Come, everyone, and join with us
• Title: Come, Everyone, and Join with Us
• Versifier: Marie J. Post (1985)
• Meter: CMD
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 66
• Topic: Deliverance; New Year - Old Year; Lord's Supper; Mercy; Peace; Prayer; Thanksgiving & Gratitude; Wisdom
• Copyright: Text © 1987, CRC Publications

Tune Information

• Name: ELEANOR
• Composer: Dale Grotenhuis (1985)
• Meter: CMD
• Key: F Major
• Copyright: © Dale Grotenhuis

Text Information:

Praise of God for delivering his people from enemy oppression.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-4
st. 2 = vv. 5-7
st. 3 = vv. 8-12
st. 4 = vv. 13-15
st. 5 = vv. 16-19
st. 6 = vv. 20, 1-2

The original occasion for Psalm 66 is unknown, but some scholars have proposed that it reflects Judah's remarkable deliverance from the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-19). After an initial call to praise (st. 1), the theme of this psalm develops in two movements.

First, the psalmist exhorts the earth's peoples to join in praise to God for delivering his people from the heavy burdens they have suffered (st. 2-3). Then the psalmist offers personal praise to God, gratefully fulfilling vows made in troubled times (st. 4); giving testimony to God's grace, "Let me tell you what he has done for me" (v. 16; st. 5); and praising God for listening to the previous cries for help (st. 6). This thematic development suggests that the psalmist was a king whose distress and prayers, and now his praise, had national significance. These same themes are the testimony of Christians in every age.

Marie J. Post (PHH 5) versified this psalm in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal. Another setting of Psalm 66 is at 242.

Liturgical Use:
Praise occasions, particularly at the beginning of worship, at the dedication of the offering, and at recognitions of answered prayer; anticipation of Christ's rule in the new heaven and new earth.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

Dale Grotenhuis (PHH 4) composed ELEANOR (named after his wife) in 1985. It is published for the first time in the 1987 Psalter Hymnal. The tune features melodic devices such as repetition, sequence, and inversion; it is accompanied by part-writing that immediately suggests singing in harmony. ELEANOR requires crisp articulation of repeated tones and an energetic tempo.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook