STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

Awake, ye saints; to praise your King Praise due to God, not to idols

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 135, 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. 3

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 8 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 135 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 8 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

Awake, ye saints; to praise your King

Awake, ye saints; to praise your King,

Your sweetest passions raise,

Your pious pleasure, while you sing,

Increasing with the praise.

No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 135, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

1Hallelujah! Praise the name of the LORD. Give praise, O servants of the LORD, 2who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. 3Hallelujah, for the LORD is good; sing praises to His name, for it is lovely. 4For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession. … 17 more verses PSALM 135 · ITS FIRST VERSES · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 135

Heaven, earth, and sea, confess his hand; He bids the vapours rise; Lightning and storm at his command Sweep thro' the sounding skies. STANZA III

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 3. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 3 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN Awake, ye saints; to praise your King

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