STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

God of my mercy and my praise Love to enemies, from the example of Christ

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 109:1–5, 31, printed in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated, where he set the psalms "in the language of the New Testament".

WRITTEN BY

Isaac Watts 1674–1748

PRINTED

1719 The Psalms of David Imitated · no. 109

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 6 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 109:1–5, 31 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 6 stanzas as Watts printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

AMONG THE SCRIPTURES

The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.

a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here

STANZA I

God of my mercy and my praise

God of my mercy and my praise,

Thy glory is my song;

The sinners speak against thy grace

With a blaspheming tongue.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 109:1–5, 31, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

1O God of my praise, be not silent. 2For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues. 3They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause. 4In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. 5They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love. 31For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul. PSALM 109:1–5, 31 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 109

Their malice rag'd without a cause, Yet, with his dying breath, He pray'd for murderers on his cross, And blest his foes in death. STANZA IV

Its place in the book

Watts's psalms run from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150, several settings to many psalms: 367 hymns. This is number 109. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 109 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN God of my mercy and my praise

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