STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

God of my life, look gently down Third Part Sick-bed devotion; or, Pleading without repining

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 39:9–13, 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 · 7 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 39:9–13 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 7 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 life, look gently down

God of my life, look gently down,

Behold the pains I feel;

But I am dumb before thy throne,

Nor dare dispute thy will.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 39:9–13, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

9I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done. 10Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand. 11You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah 12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers. 13Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.” PSALM 39:9–13 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 39

God of my life, look gently down, Behold the pains I feel; But I am dumb before thy throne, Nor dare dispute thy will. 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 3. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 3 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN God of my life, look gently down

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