Praise to the Lord

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation;
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation;
All ye who hear,
Brothers and sisters draw near,
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee:
Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease,
Turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, who when darkness and sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light,
Chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again:
Gladly for aye we adore Him

These are the words written centuries ago by Joachim Neander (1650-1680). Neander is the Greek form of the name which would be the equivalent name as 'Newman' in English. He was a theologian who born in Bremen and lived for several years in Dusseldorf, Germany. It is said that he was the first great hymn writer in Germany after the Reformation. The original version was in German, which was translated into English a long time ago. It appears in various hymn books in differing numbers of stanzas.