STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

Behold the love, the generous love Second Part Love to enemies; or, The love of Christ to sinners typified in David

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 35:12–14, 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

Not recorded 6 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 35:12–14 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

Behold the love, the generous love

That holy David shows;

Hark, how his sounding bowels move

To his afflicted foes!

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 35:12–14, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

12They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul. 13Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered. 14I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother. PSALM 35:12–14 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 35

When they are sick his soul complains, And seems to feel the smart; The spirit of the gospel reigns, And melts his pious heart. STANZA II

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 Behold the love, the generous love

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