Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#9

9. Wholehearted Thanksgiving to You I Will Bring

1 Wholehearted thanksgiving to you I will bring;
in praise of your marvelous works I will sing.
For joy I will shout and exultingly cry
in praise of your name, LORD my God, O Most High.
2 My foes were turned backward in utter despair;
they stumbled and perished because you were there.
For you have defended my right and my cause;
you sat in just judgment, upholding your laws.

3 You chided the nations, the wicked destroyed;
their names you erased and forever made void.
The foe is consumed and completely disgraced,
their cities uprooted, their memory erased.

4 The LORD will eternally sit on his throne,
establishing it for his judgment alone.
He righteously judges the world with his might;
all peoples will know that his judgment is right.

5 The LORD is a stronghold, a bulwark, a tower,
for all the oppressed in their dark troubled hour.
Those knowing your name, LORD, trust you for your grace;
you have not forsaken those seeking your face.

6 Sing praise to the LORD, who in Zion does dwell;
among all the peoples his mighty deeds tell.
The cry of the poor never fades from his ear;
their blood he avenges; he always will hear.

7 LORD, see what I suffer from malice and hate.
Have mercy! O lift me away from death's gate,
that I with the Daughter of Zion may voice
your praises, and in your salvation rejoice.

8 The nations are sunk in the pit they prepared;
their feet in the net which they hid are ensnared.
The LORD by his judgment has made himself known,
and by their own works are the wicked o'erthrown.

9 The wicked shall perish in death's dark abode,
with all of the lands who are heedless of God.
No longer forget the just cause of the weak,
nor banish forever the hope of the meek.

10 Arise, LORD, let sinners not think themselves strong;
let peoples be judged in your presence for wrong.
Strike terror within them, O LORD; make them see
that nations, though pompous, must still bend the knee.

Text Information

• First Line: Wholehearted thanksgiving to you I will bring
• Title: Wholehearted Thanksgiving to You I Will Bring
• Meter: 11 11 11 11
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 9
• Topic: Enemies & Persecution; Laments; Grace; Poverty
• Source: The Book of Psalms for Singing, 1975, alt.

Tune Information

• Name: WALTHER
• Composer: C. Ferdinand Walther, 1811-1887
• Meter: 11 11 11 11
• Key: G Major

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-2
st. 2 = vv. 3-4
st. 3 = vv. 5-6
st. 4 =vv. 7-8
st. 5 = vv.9-10 st.
6 = vv. 11-12
st. 7 = vv. 13-14
st. 8 = vv. 15-16
st. 9 = vv. 17-18
st. 10 = vv. 19-20

Psalm 9 contains hints that it was originally composed by or for a king in Israel who was under attack (w. 3-6, 13-14). Praise predominates, but it is offered in the context of a prayer for deliverance. The psalmist begins with a vow to praise the LORD for his wonders (st. 1) and quickly moves to praise of God's past defense against enemies and for their defeat (st. 2-3). The security of God's throne and God's righteous rule over the world (st. 4) and the sure refuge the LORD provides under times of attack (st. 5) prompt additional praise and stir a call for the people to honor the Lord’s unfailing attention to those who rely on him (st. 6). The psalmist voices our prayer for deliverance from the threat of enemies (st. 7) and our confession that they will suffer the very evil they perpetrate against the LORD's anointed and his people (st. 8-9). The psalm ends in triumphant hope with a prayer asking God to show the enemies how powerless and vulnerable they are before him (st. 10).

The versification (altered) is from The Book of Psalms for Singing (1973) produced by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, a denomination that limits its congregational song to unaccompanied psalm singing.

Liturgical Use:
Celebration of God's victory over enemies; as a prayer when the church reflects on or experiences the hostility of the present evil age.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

Charles Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (b. Langenschursdorf, Saxony, 1811; d. St. Louis, MO, 1887) was an influential Lutheran theologian and leader. He studied theology at Leipzig, was ordained in 1837, and immigrated to the United States in 1839 with other orthodox Lutherans to escape from the rationalism of the state church in Saxony. He ministered to several congregations in the St. Louis region and assisted in building the log cabin college at Alternburg, which eventually became Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Founder of the periodical Der Lutheraner in 1844, Walther also helped to establish the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in 1847 (of which he was elected president, 1847-1850, 1864-1878) and was professor of theology and president of Concordia Seminary. His publishing work eventually led to the establishment of Concordia Publishing House. He wrote numerous hymn tunes and texts and in 1847 compiled Kirchengesangbuch, for the Saxon immigrants to Missouri and Ohio.

Walther composed the tune named after him for his text "He's Risen, He's Risen, Christ Jesus, the Lord" (originally “Erstanden, erstanden”) an Easter hymn of eleven stanzas. It may have been written in 1860, since it was included in his biography with the tide "On the First Easter Day, April 8, 1860, on the Ocean," a reference to a trip Walther took that year. The tune begins like a fanfare, giving a dramatic flair to the melody. Sing it with enthusiasm, using antiphonal performance throughout.

--Psalter Hymnal handbook