Psalm 100 J.H.
Words: Sternhold and Hopkins, The Whole Book of Psalms Collected into English Metre
*** see note below about authorship of this version
1 All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice:
Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell,
come ye before him and rejoice.
2 The Lord ye know is God indeed,
without our aid he did us make;
We are his flock, he doth ns feed,
and for his sheep he doth us take.
3 O enter then his gates with praise,
approach with joy his courts unto'
Praise, laud, and bless his Name always,
for it is seemly so to do.
4 For why? the Lord our God is good,
hs mercy is for ever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
and shall from age to age endure.
Another of the same, by J. H.
1 In God the Lord be glad and light,
praise him throughout the earth;
Serve him, and come before his sight
with singing and with mirth.
2 Know that the Lord our God he is,
he did us make and keep,
Not we ourselves, for we are his
own flock and pasture sheep.
3 O go into his gates always,
give thanks within the same;
Within his courts set forth his praise,
and laud his holy Name.
4 For why? the goodness of the Lord
for evermore doth reign,
From age to age throughout the world
his truth doth still remain.
Note: The first version of Psalm 100 presented here is now almost universally recognized to have been written by William Kethe, but for some unknown reason it was attributed to John Hopkins in the original 1562 printing. According to Millar Patrick,
"Kethe's great version of Psalm 100, strangely ascribed to Sternhold in the 1561 Anglo-Genevan Psalter, is omitted from Daye's "Whole Booke of Psalmes" in 1562. It is admitted to an appendix in 1564, and Sternhold's name as author disappears, but Kethe's is not substituted; nor in any subsequent editions does Daye give any indication of authorship until 1687, when the misleading initials of "I.H" are appended.
Our copy of Sternhold and Hopkins, printed in 1812, has the initials "J.H." attached to the first version, so we have retained that designation in the interest of retaining some of the flavor of our copy, even though it is undoubtedly not the correct one.
