O That I Had a Thousand Voices

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O that I had a thousand voices, To praise my God with thousand tongues

Author: Johann Mentzer (1704, cento)
Tune: O DASS ICH TAUSEND ZUNGEN HÄTTE (König)
Published in 11 hymnals

Audio files: Recording

Piano/Organ
	Easy Organ Library, Vol. 52

Representative Text

1 O that I had a thousand voices
to praise my God with thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the Lord rejoices,
would then proclaim in grateful songs
to all, wherever I might be,
what great things God hath done for me.

2 O all ye pow'rs that he implanted,
arise, and silence keep no more;
put forth the strength that he hath granted,
your noblest work is to adore.
O soul and body, be ye meet
with heartfelt praise your Lord to greet!

3 All creatures that have breath and motion,
that throng the earth, the sea, the sky,
now join me in my heart’s devotion,
help me to raise his praises high.
My utmost pow'rs can ne'er aright
declare the wonders of his might.

4 O Father, deign thou, I beseech thee,
to listen to my earthly lays;
a nobler strain in heav'n shall reach thee,
when I with angels hymn thy praise
and learn amid their choirs to sing
loud hallelujahs to my King.

Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #183

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Author: Johann Mentzer

Mentzer, Johann, was born July 27, 1658, at Jahmen, near Rothenburg, in Silesia, and became a student of theology at Wittenberg, In 1691 he was appointed pastor at Merzdorf; in 1693 at Hauswalde, near Bischofswerda; and in 1696 at Kemnitz, near Bernstadt, Saxony. He died at Kemnitz, Feb. 24, 1734 (G. F. Otto's Lexicon . . . Oberlausizischer Schriftsteller, ii., 581; ms. from Pastor Richter of Kemnitz, &c). He was a great friend of J. C. Schwedler, of Henrietta Catherine von Gersdorf, and of N. L. von Zinzendorf, all hymnwriters, and all his near neighbours. He was himself greatly tried in the furnace of affliction. He wrote a large number of hymns, over 30 of which appeared in the various hymnbooks of his time. Many of them, especially t… Go to person page >

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First Line:	O that I had a thousand voices, To praise my God with thousand tongues
Title:	O That I Had a Thousand Voices
German Title:	O dass ich tausend Zungen hätte
Author:	Johann Mentzer (1704, cento)
Meter:	9.8.9.8.8.8
Source:	Translation composite
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public domain

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Tune

O DASS ICH TAUSEND ZUNGEN HÄTTE (König)

Johann Balthaser König (b. Waltershausen, near Gotha, Germany, 1691; d. Frankfurt, Germany, 1758) composed this tune, which later became associated with Johann Mentzer's hymn "O dass ich tausend Zungen hätte" (Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices). The harmonization is from the Wurttembergische Choral…

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