Psalm 146 (Version 1)

Praise ye the Lord, my heart shall join

In work so pleasant, so divine,

Now, while the flesh is mine abode,

And when my soul ascends to God.

Praise shall employ my noblest powers,

While immortality endures;

My days of praise shall ne'er be past,

While life and thought and being last.

Why should I make a man my trust?

Princes must die and turn to dust;

Their breath departs, their pomp and power

And thoughts, all vanish in an hour.

Happy the man whose hopes rely

On Israel's God: he made the sky,

And earth and seas with all their train,

And none shall find his promise vain.

His truth for ever stands secure;

He saves th' opprest, he feeds the poor;

He sends the labouring conscience peace,

And grants the prisoner sweet release.

The Lord hath eyes to give the blind;

The Lord supports the sinking mind;

He helps the stranger in distress,

The widow and the fatherless.

He loves his saints, he knows them well,

But turns the wicked down to hell:

Thy God, O Zion, ever reigns;

Praise him in everlasting strains.