Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#85

85. LORD, You Have Lavished on Your Land

Text Information

• First Line: LORD, you have lavished on your land
• Title: LORD, You Have Lavished on Your Land
• Versifier: Marie J. Post (1985)
• Meter: 88 88 88
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 85
• Topic: Laments; Reformation; Atonement; Christmas; Peace
• Copyright: Text © 1987, CRC Publications

Tune Information

• Name: NEW 113TH
• Composer: William Hayes (1774)
• Meter: 88 88 88
• Key: G Major

Text Information:

A communal prayer requesting God's forgiveness and the full experience of his saving love and faithfulness.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-3
st. 2 = vv. 4-7
st. 3 = vv. 8-9
st. 4 = vv. 10-13

In a time of distress after being restored from captivity, the people of God pray for a renewal of God's mercies. If the restoration referred to is Israel's return from Babylon, the troubles are probably those alluded to in Nehemiah and Malachi–verse 12 suggests a severe drought. As you have pardoned and restored us before, prays the psalmist, show us your grace once more (st. 1). Forgive, revive, and bless us in your mercy, O God (st. 2). Surely the LORD's salvation is near and unfailing (st. 3). God's love and faithfulness and righteousness and peace all come together in God's grace (st. 4). The beautiful imagery of love and faithfulness meeting together while "righteousness and peace kiss each other" (v. 10) has made Psalm 85 a favorite for God's people everywhere. Marie J. Post (PHH 5) versified this psalm in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
A favorite in traditional Christian liturgies for the Advent season; many other occasions.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

William Hayes (b. Gloucester, England, 1708; d. Oxford, England, 1777) first published NEW 113TH in his Sixteen Metrical Psalms . . . for Use in Magdalen College Chapel (1774) as a setting for a versification of Psalm 134. (Any relationship with Psalm 113, as indicated by the tune name, has never been discovered.) NEW 113TH requires solid harmony singing and a sense of one broad beat per bar to support its somewhat meandering melody. The suggested alternate tune, ST. PETERSBURG (50), may be better known and more accessible to some congregations.

As a boy Hayes was a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral. He served as organist of St. Mary Church in Shrewsbury and at Worcester Cathedral but spent most of his career as organist, choirmaster, and professor of music at Magdalen College, Oxford (1734-1777). He received his doctorate at Oxford in 1749, a time when the opening of the Radcliffe Library was being celebrated. That celebration included the first performance of George Frederic Handel's Messiah in Oxford–Hayes introduced Handel's works to many areas of England. Hayes composed mostly choral music, some of which is light-hearted, and his publications include various canons and psalm tunes.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook