General Hymns
Hymn 197.
O God, our help in ages past
¶Choose your part under Play voice to hear it alone, or let all four sound and sing yours. Concert key moves the whole hymn up or down to suit your voice.
Opening the music…
The Words
1O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!
2Beneath the shadow of Thy Throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
5Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
6O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home. Amen.
The Page It Came From
Where It Comes From
Read note by note from Hymns Ancient and Modern (Novello, London, 1861), and checked against the printed page. See that page in the scan of the book at the Internet Archive: open the page.
First published in London in 1861. Every tune, harmony and text in it was printed by 1861, so all its writers died long before 1966, and the book is out of copyright in India and the USA.