Verse 1
God, the omnipresent God,
Our strength and refuge stands
Ready to support our load,
And bear us in his hands:
Readiest when we need him most,
When to him distress’d we cry,
All who on his mercy trust
Shall find deliverance nigh.
Verse 2
Kept by him we scorn to fear
In danger’s blackest day,
Starting at destruction near,
Tho’ nature faint away,
Tho’ the stormy ocean roar,
Tho’ the madding billows rise,
Rage, and foam, and lash the shore,
And mingle earth and skies.
Verse 3
Let earth’s inmost center quake,
And shatter’d nature mourn,
Let the unwieldy mountains shake,
And fall by storms uptorn,
Fall with all their trembling load
Far into the ocean hurl’d,
Lo! We stand secure in God,
Amidst a ruin’d world.
Verse 4
From the throne of God there springs
A pure and crystal stream,
Life, and peace, and joy it brings
To his Jerusalem:
Rivers of refreshing grace
Thro’ the sacred city flow,
Watering all the hallow’d place
Where God resides below.
Verse 5
God most merciful, most high,
Doth in his Sion dwell,
Kept by him their towers defy
The strength of earth and hell;
Built on her o’ershadowing Rock,
Who shall her foundations move,
Who her great defender shock,
The Almighty God of love,
Verse 6
All that on this Rock are stay’d
The world assaults in vain,
Ever present with his aid
He shall his own sustain:
Guardian of the chosen race,
Jesus doth his church defend,
Save them by his timely grace,
And save them to the end.
Verse 7
Furiously the heathen rag’d
Against his church below,
Kingdoms all their power engag’d
Jerusalem t’ o’erthrow;
Earth from her foundation stirr’d,
Yawn’d to swallow up her prey,
Jesus spoke, she own’d his word,
And quak’d, and fled away.
Verse 8
For his people in distress
The God of Jacob stands,
Keeps us, ’till our troubles cease,
In his almighty hands:
He for us his power hath shewn,
He doth still our refuge prove;
Loves the Lord of hosts his own,
And shall for ever love.
Verse 9
Come, behold the Almighty Lord
In robes of vengeance clad;
By the desolating sword
What havock hath he made!
He hath sent his armies forth,
States and kingdoms to o’erthrow,
March’d in anger thro’ the earth,
And ravag’d all below.
Verse 10
Lo! Again in tender love
He bids their discords cease,
Calms their spirit from above,
And melts them into peace;
Breaks the bow and burns the car,
Instruments of fatal ill,
Quells the horrid din of war,
And bids the world be still.
Verse 11
Sons of men, be still, and know
That I am God alone,
I my saving power will shew,
And make my goodness known;
All shall with my will comply,
Fear the name to sinners given,
Bow before the Lord most high,
The Lord of earth and heaven.
Verse 12
For his people in distress
The God of Jacob stands,
Bears us, ’till our troubles cease,
In his almighty hands:
He for us his power hath shewn,
He doth still our refuge prove,
Loves the Lord of hosts his own,
And shall for ever love.