STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

We bless the Lord, the just, the good Third Part Praise for temporal blessings; or, Common and special mercies

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 68:19, 9, 20–22, 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

Long Metre 8.8.8.8 · 6 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 68:19, 9, 20–22 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

We bless the Lord, the just, the good

We bless the Lord, the just, the good,

Who fills our hearts with joy and food;

Who pours his blessings from the skies,

And loads our days with rich supplies.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 68:19, 9, 20–22, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

19Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God of our salvation. Selah 9You sent abundant rain, O God; You refreshed Your weary inheritance. 20Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death. 21Surely God will crush the heads of His enemies, the hairy crowns of those who persist in guilty ways. 22The Lord said, “I will retrieve them from Bashan, I will bring them up from the depths of the sea, PSALM 68:19, 9, 20–22 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 68

We bless the Lord, the just, the good, Who fills our hearts with joy and food; Who pours his blessings from the skies, And loads our days with rich supplies. 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 We bless the Lord, the just, the good

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