STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

Lord, what is man, poor feeble man Second Part The vanity of man, and condescension of God

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 144:3–6, 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. 2

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 3 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 144:3–6 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 3 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

4 echoes in 12 lines.

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

Lord, what is man, poor feeble man

Lord, what is man, poor feeble man,

Born of the earth at first!

His life a shadow, light and vain,

Still hasting to the dust.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 144:3–6, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

3O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him? 4Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 5Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke. 6Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them. PSALM 144:3–6 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 144

Lord, what is man, poor feeble man, Born of the earth at first! His life a shadow, light and vain, Still hasting to the dust. STANZA I

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

NO. 2 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN Lord, what is man, poor feeble man

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