It is the Lord! Behold His hand

Top Media Text Author Text Info Notes Tune Timeline Arrangements Page Scans Instances

It is the Lord! Behold His hand

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 7 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ
	His Majesty and Power (Jubilant Hymns of…

Representative Text

It is the Lord!--Behold His hand
Outstretch'd with an afflictive rod;
And hark! a voice goes through the land,
"Be still, and know that I am God."

Shall we, like guilty Adam, hide
In darkest shades our darker fears?
For who His coming may abide?
Or who shall stand when He appears?

No,--let us throng around His seat;
No,--let us meet Him face to face,
Prostrate our spirits at his feet,
Confess our sins, and sue for grace.

Who knows but God will hear our cries,
Turn swift destruction from our path,
Restrain His judgments, or chastise
In tender mercy, not in wrath?

He will, He will, for Jesus pleads;
Let heaven and earth His love record;
For us, for us, He intercedes;
Our help is nigh:--it is the Lord!

Into His hands then let us fall,
Come health or sickness, life or death;
Whether He send us balm for gall,
Or immortality for breath.

Sacred Poems and Hymns

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: James Montgomery

James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missio… Go to person page >

^ top

Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	It is the Lord! Behold His hand
Author:	James Montgomery
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

^ top

Notes

It is the Lord, behold His hand. J. Montgomery. [In Times of Distress.] Written Aug. 22, 1832, during the epidemic of cholera in Sheffield, and for use in that town (Montgomery Manuscript). It was published in Montgomery's Original Hymns, 1853, No. 290, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled "During the Cholera —Confession and Supplication." In Kennedy, 1863, No. 457, it is abbreviated, and altered. The companion hymn, also written on Aug. 22, 1832, and for the same purpose, was "Let the land mourn through all its coasts." This was published in the Original Hymns, 1853, No. 289, in 6 stanza of 4 lines, and is in common use in Great Britain and America. The hymns, "Sing Hallelujah, sing," and "Walking on the winged wind," were written by Montgomery at the close of the same year as a "Thanksgiving for Deliverance from the Cholera" (M. MSS), and also published in his Original Hymns, 1853.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top

Tune

BRESLAU

WAREHAM (Knapp)

William Knapp (b. Wareham, Dorsetshire, England, 1698; d. Poole, Dorsetshire, 1768) composed WAREHAM, so named for his birthplace. A glover by trade, Knapp served as the parish clerk at St. James's Church in Poole (1729-1768) and was organist in both Wareham and Poole. Known in his time as the "coun…

Go to tune page >

All tunes published with 'It is the Lord! Behold His hand'^ top