The Lord of Heaven confess

The Lord of Heaven confess. George Wither* (1588-1667). This paraphrase of Psalm 148 was published in Wither’s The Psalmes of David, translated into lyrick-verse (1632). It was included in SofP in an abbreviated version omitting stanzas 2, 4 and 6, while CH3 gives the full text. The SofP version prints a variant of the lines beginning ‘Even those that be of Israel’s race’ which makes it clear that ‘even’ means ‘equally’ and is not intended to be derogatory of the Jewish people: Yea, they that are Of Israel’s race, Are in his graceAnd ever dear. Either in the long or shortened version the hymn has been included in many more recent hymnals. WOV prints the opening stanza combined with three...