The psalms are meant to be sung! Read the article “Singing the Psalms: Recovering the Church’s God-Inspired Hymnbook.”
Original Metrical Setting
Sing to the tune Dix (For the Beauty of the Earth). Alternatively, sing the whole psalm or only the second part (“Today, if you hear his voice”) to the tune Redhead (Go To Dark Gethsemane). Sung Year A, Third Sunday in Lent. Psalm 95 calls God’s people to worship their Maker, God, and Shepherd, and not to resist him when he speaks, lest they perish. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in whom God gives lasting rest to those who do not resist the Holy Spirit and bow to the Son.
Psalm 95 calls God’s people to worship their Maker, God, and Shepherd, and not to resist him when he speaks, lest they perish. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in whom God gives lasting rest to those who do not resist the Holy Spirit and bow to the Son.
Come and let us sing to God,
Let us make a joyful noise!
To our saving rock give praise,
In his presence, offer thanks!
Come before the Lord with songs,
Sing with joy and thanksgiving!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a King above all gods.
In his hand, he holds the depths,
And the mountain peaks are his.
He owns all the seas he made,
And his hands formed the dry land.
Come and let us now bow down,
Kneel before our Maker’s face,
For he is our Lord and God,
And we are the flock he tends.
People of his pasture, bow,
Worship him who cares for you.
Optionally, the remainder of the psalm may be sung to the tune Redhead (Go To Dark Gethsemane).
If you hear his voice today,
Do not harden up your hearts,
As at Massah, Meribah,
When your fathers tested me,
When those in the wilderness,
Tried me though they’d seen my work.
Forty years they angered me,
And I said, “They go astray—
In their hearts they fall away,
And they have not known my ways.”
Therefore in my wrath, I swore,
“They won’t enter in my rest.”
The following verses may also be sung.
Christ, our saving Rock, we praise,
To our Shepherd, songs we bring.
He is God’s great promised rest
For those who do not resist.
Let the Spirit have his way,
Kneel and bow to Christ today.
Glory to the Father, God,
Glory to his Son, the Christ,
Glory to the Spirit be,
Praise and bless the one and three,
As it was and is right now,
And will be eternally.
Metrical Settings
- [Recommended] Seedbed (Tennents) Metrical Psalter with Audio (see also the book)
- The 1650 Metrical Psalter
Chants
- [Recommended] St. Bernard Breviary — the Daily Office of the 2019 BCP with simple chant tones; see the “Chant Helps” page of the Breviary website with an audio example of Psalms 95–97 being chanted
- Theopolis Liturgy and Psalter (book)
