Words: From the Unit­ed Pres­by­ter­ian Book of Psalms, 1871.

Music: Tal­lis’ Can­on, , in The Whole Psal­ter Trans­lat­ed in­to Eng­lish Me­tre, by Mat­thew Park­er, 1560. Al­ter­nate tune:


The man who once has found abode
Within the secret place of God,
Shall with Almighty God abide,
And in His shadow safely hide.

I of the Lord my God will say,
“He is my Refuge and my Stay;
To Him for safety I will flee;
My God, in Him my trust will be.”

He shall with all protecting care
Preserve thee from the fowler’s snare;
When fearful plagues around prevail,
No fatal stroke shall thee assail.

His outspread pinions shall thee hide;
Beneath His wings shalt thou confide;
His faithfulness shall ever be
A shield and buckler unto thee.

No nightly terrors shall alarm;
No deadly shaft by day shall harm;
Nor pestilence that walks by night,
Nor plagues that waste in noonday light.

Because thy trust is God alone,
Thy dwelling place the Highest One,
No evil shall upon thee come,
Nor plague approach thy guarded home.

At thy right hand, though thousands die,
No harm shall unto thee come nigh;
But thou, secure, unharmed, shalt see
What wicked men’s reward shall be.