STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

My spirit sinks within me, Lord Second Part Melancholy thoughts reproved; or, Hope in afflictions

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 42:6–11, 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

Long Metre 8.8.8.8 · 6 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 42:6–11 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

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 42:6–11, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

6O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar. 7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me. 8The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life. 9I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” 10Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. PSALM 42:6–11 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 42

I'll chide my heart that sinks so low, Why should my soul indulge her grief? Hope in the Lord, and praise him too, He is my rest, my sure relief. STANZA V

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 My spirit sinks within me, Lord

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