Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
Holy God, we praise Thy name;
Lord of all, we bow before Thee;
All on earth Thy scepter claim,
All in heaven above adore Thee.
Infinite Thy vast domain,
Everlasting is Thy reign.
Hark, the glad celestial hymn,
Angel choirs above are raising;
Cherubim and seraphim,
In unceasing chorus praising,
Fill the heavens with sweet accord:
Holy, holy, holy Lord.
Lo! the apostolic train
Joins Thy sacred name to hallow;
Prophets swell the glad refrain,
And the white-robed martyrs follow,
And from morn to set of sun,
Through the church the song goes on.
Holy Father, holy Son,
Holy Spirit: Three we name Thee,
Though in essence only One;
Undivided God we claim Thee,
And adoring bend the knee
While we own the mystery.
Translated by Clarence Walworth (1820–1900)
ANY HYMN with roots that go as far back as this one usually has some legends connected to it, so it is difficult to know its accurate history. The hymn is derived from the Te Deum of the fourth century, a hymn of praise to God apparently written by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, around A.D. 387. One story says that it was written when Augustine was baptized by Ambrose. Some scholars now feel that it was written by a fourth-century missionary bishop, Niceta, in what is now Yugoslavia.
But whatever its origin, Christians have been singing versions of this hymn for more than fifteen hundred years. The English hymn was produced by a Roman Catholic priest from Albany, New York, Clarence Walworth, who translated it from an Austrian hymnal that had been published nearly a hundred years earlier.
Praise the Lord! Yes, give praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord now and forever. Everywhere—from east to west— praise the name of the Lord.
Psalm 113:1-3
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