PSALM 31:9-16
METER: 76 76 D
SUGGESTED TUNE: PASSION CHORALE
This is the meter of the hymn "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," and should be sung to a tune similar in mood to that hymn.
1. O Lord, have mercy on me,
For I am in distress;
From grief my eye is wasted;
My soul and body, too.
My life is spent with sorrow,
My years are spent with sighs;
My strength fails, I am sinful,
My bones all waste away.
2. My foes find me disgraceful,
My neighbors wag their heads,
Acquaintances all dread me,
Those in the street take flight.
Like dead ones I'm forgotten,
I'm like a broken pot.
I heard much evil gossip,
"Terror on ev'ry side!"
3. They counseled long against me
And planned to take my life.
Lord, I have trusted in you;
I cry, "You are my God."
My times are in your hands, Lord;
Save me from all my foes.
Show favor to your servant,
And save me by your grace.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher from Sing the Psalms! by Dale A. Schoening. Copyright 1988 Dale A. Schoening.
