Thanks Be to God Our Savior

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Thanks be to God our Savior

Versifier: David J. Diephouse (1985)
Published in 2 hymnals

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Versifier: David J. Diephouse

David James Diephouse (b. 1947) a long-time professor of history, received his B.A. from Calvin College, and M.A. and Ph.D. at Princeton University. He taught history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, before moving to Calvin College in 1976, where he taught modern European history and also served as a visiting instructor at Calvin Theological Seminary. Much of his research deals with the role of religion in 19th and 20th century German society and culture; one of his publications is Pastors and Pluralism in Württemberg 1918-1933. He served Calvin College as an academic dean and in several other administrative capacities, and retired from teaching in 2013. Emily Brink Go to person page >

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First Line:	Thanks be to God our Savior
Title:	Thanks Be to God Our Savior
Versifier:	David J. Diephouse (1985)
Meter:	7.6.7.6.6.7.6.7
Language:	English
Copyright:	Text and harmonization © 1987, CRC Publications

Psalm 107
(hymns)

Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 13 (18)

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Notes

Praise for God's unfailing deliverance of those who cry to him in the crises of their lives – even when they suffer the just consequences of their sins–and a call to ponder the ways of God.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-3
st. 2 = vv. 4-9
st. 3 = vv. 10-16
st. 4 = vv. 17-22
st. 5 = vv. 23-32
st. 6 = vv. 33-43

Psalm 107 opens Book V of the Psalms in their final arrangement, but its affinities with 105 and 106 suggest that the three once formed a trilogy. Psalm 107 was likely composed by a priest or Levite for liturgical use at the temple. Its date is uncertain, but this interpretation seems probable: having experienced God's mercies anew in the return from Babylonian exile (vv. 2-3), Israel is called to thank the LORD (st. 1) and to meditate on God's compassion toward those who cried out to him during a crisis.

The psalm focuses on four such crises (vv. 4-32). In the first, people are lost in a desert without food or water (vv. 4-9; st. 2), and in the last, they are caught in a perilous storm at sea (vv. 23-32; st. 5). In the second and third, they suffer for their rebellious ways–as captives forced to bitter labor (vv. 10-16; st. 3) and as victims of serious illness (vv. 17-22; st. 4). A supplement (vv. 33-42) recalls how God often sends famine followed by times of plenty, and oppression followed by deliverance–to the joy of the upright and the dismay of the wicked. All these things, says the psalmist, should move the wise and godly to ponder God's mercies (st. 6).

David Diephouse (PHH 62) versified Psalm 107 in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
Thanksgiving for God's aid in times of friendlessness, homelessness, imprisonment, illness, or other crisis in the Christian community.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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Tune

DJ DEEP HOUSE

OLD 107TH

GENEVAN 107 first appeared in the 1551 edition of the Genevan Psalter. Dale Grotenhuis (PHH 4) harmonized the tune in 1986. Composed in the Dorian mode this Genevan tune consists of four long lines, each of which has two phrases; lines 1 and 2 share melodic and rhythmic patterns, and lines 3 and 4 a…

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