Vindicate the Justice You Command
(RCOG - "Save Me and Deliver Me")

Words: Psalm 7:1-8, from The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650 (alt)

Music:    Dwight Armstrong
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Note: We cannot see any reason why the creators of the RCOG and 1974 hymnals chose to alter the 1650 Scottish words. But the second half of each verse has been altered from the Scottish original, and in every case the result is grossly inferior to the Scottish version, both as poetry and in terms of faithfulness to the original Psalm. We present the two versions here side by side for comparison:

 Version from the 1974 hymnal
 1. O Lord, my God, in You do I
       my confidence repose;
    Save and deliver me from all
       my persecuting foes;
    Lest they should seize my life from me
       and like a lion tear;
    Devouring and rending it
       with no one to defend.

 2. O Lord, my God, if it be so
       that I committed this;
    If it be so that in my hands
       iniquity there is;
    If evil I repaid to him
       who was at peace with me;
    Yea, Lord, did I my foe release
       and aid without a cause.

 3. Then let the foe pursue my life
       and thrust it to the earth;
    Then let him take my soul and lay
       my honour in the dust.
    Rise in Your wrath, Lord, stir Yourself,
       for my foes raging be;
    Awake, my God, and vindicate
       the justice you command.

 4. So shall the congregation there
       encompass thee about.
    Therefore unto thy place on high
       return for their sakes.
    The Lord He shall the people judge;
       My judge the Lord shall be,
    According to integrity
     and righteousness, in me.
 
	Original 1650 Scottish version
 1  O Lord my God, in thee do I
       my confidence repose:
    Save and deliver me from all
       my persecuting foes;
    Lest that the enemy my soul
       should, like a lion, tear,
    In pieces rending it, while there
       is no deliverer.

 2  O Lord my God, if it be so
       that I committed this;
    If it be so that in my hands
       iniquity there is:
    If I rewarded ill to him
       that was at peace with me;
    (Yea, ev'n the man that without cause
       my foe was I did free;)

 3  Then let the foe pursue and take
       my soul, and my life thrust
    Down to the earth, and let him lay
       mine honour in the dust.
    Rise in thy wrath, Lord, raise thyself,
       for my foes raging be;
    And, to the judgment which thou hast
       commanded, wake for me.

 4  So shall th' assembly of thy folk
       about encompass thee:
    Thou, therefore, for their sakes, return
       unto thy place on high.
    The Lord he shall the people judge:
       my judge, Jehovah, be,
    After my righteousness, and mine
       integrity in me.

Note: Verse 4 was only present in the RCOG hymnal. It was omitted from the 1974 hymnal, but it bears the same pattern of modification for no apparent reason. The RCOG hymnal used verse 1 without alteration, but verses 2 and 3 contained different, but similarly ill-formed alterations to the original than the 1974 version.

 


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