Fair Beyond Telling

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Fair beyond telling, Lord, is Thy dwelling

Translator: J. C. Aaberg; Author: N. F. S. Grundtvig
Tune: GETHER
Published in 4 hymnals

Representative Text

Fair beyond telling,
Lord, is Thy dwelling,
Filled with Thy peace.
Oh how I languish
And, in my anguish,
Wait for release
That I may enter Thy temple, O Lord,
With Thee communing in deepest accord.

With Thy compassion,
Lord of Salvation,
Naught can compare.
Even the sparrow
Safe from the arrow
Rests in Thy care.
And as Thou shieldest the bird in its nest,
So let my heart in Thy temple find rest.

Years full of splendors,
Which to offenders
Earth may afford,
Never can measure
One day of pleasure
Found with Thee, Lord,
When on the wings of Thy quickening word
Souls are uplifted and Thou art adored.

Quicken in spirit,
Grow in Thy merit
Shall now Thy friends.
Blessings in showers
Filled with Thy powers
On them descends
Until at home in the city of gold
All shall in wonder Thy presence behold.

Source: Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark #90

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Translator: J. C. Aaberg

Jens Christian Aaberg (b. Moberg, Denmark, 1877; d. Minneapolis, MN, 1970) immigrated to the United States in 1901. Educated at Grand View College and Seminary in Des Moines, Iowa, he entered the ministry of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and served congregations in Marinette, Wisconsin; Dwight, Illinois; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Aaberg wrote Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark (1945), translated at least eighty hymns from Danish into English, and served on four hymnal committees. In 1947 King Frederick of Denmark awarded him the Knight Cross of Denmark. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987 Go to person page >

Author: N. F. S. Grundtvig

Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig was the son of a pastor, and was born at Udby, in Seeland, in 1783. He studied in the University of Copenhagen from 1800-1805; and, like some other eminent men, did not greatly distinguish himself; his mind was too active and his imagination too versatile to bear the restraint of the academic course. After leaving the university he took to teaching; first in Langeland, then (1808) in Copenhagen. Here he devoted his attention to poetry, literature, and Northern antiquities. In 1810 he became assistant to his father in a parish in Jutland. The sermon he preached at his ordination, on the subject "Why has the Lord's word disappeared from His house," attracted much attention, which is rarely the case with "pro… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Fair beyond telling, Lord, is Thy dwelling
Title:	Fair Beyond Telling
Danish Title:	Hyggelig, rolig, Gud er din Bolig
Author:	N. F. S. Grundtvig
Translator:	J. C. Aaberg
Meter:	5.5.4.5.5.4.10.10
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain