607. Beati omnes

A paraphrase of Psalm 128, a Song of Ascents or pilgrimage hymn. Tune: ICH DANK DIR SCHON by Michael Praetorius, 1610, as paired with "The King of love my Shepherd is" in The Lutheran Hymnal. ART: Michelangelo Cerquozzi, †1602, still-life with grapes, figs and other fruits, public domain.

Blest are you all who fear the Lord,
Who walk in His ways, tasting
Fruit of your labor as reward,
Yea, pleasure everlasting.

Well shall it go with you—your mate
A vinestock richly fruited,
Your children growing in full spate
Like olives, firmly rooted.

From out God's throne may you be blest
And be His city's blessing,
Till all your seed obtain the rest
To which your days are pressing.

606. Nisi Dominus

A paraphrase of Psalm 127, a Song of Ascents or pilgrimage hymn. Tune: ST. BRIDE by Samuel Howard, 1762 ("And wilt Thou pardon, Lord," etc.) ART: Building the wall of Jerusalem (cf. Nehemiah), from Sunrays Quarterly, 1908; public domain.

Unless God build the house,
The workmen toil in vain.
Unless the Lord His watch maintain,
In vain the watchmen rouse.

Why eat the bread of pain
From rising with the sun
To midnight watch, if such a One
The gift of rest ordain?

Behold, it is His gift
A fruitful house to build,
With children as with arrows filled—
Full quiver, fletched and swift.

Oh, happy be those walls
And they who dwell therein!
They shall respond with no chagrin
To the besieger's calls.

605. In convertendo

A paraphrase of Psalm 126, a Song of Ascents or pilgrimage hymn. The latter verses of this psalm have been set to music multiple times, including a motet by Heinrich Schütz ("Die mit Tränen säen") and parts of the first movement of Brahms' German Requiem. There it is combined with Matthew 5:4 ("Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted"), which I've taken the liberty of citing at the end of this hymn. Tune: WEIL ICH JESU SCHÄFLEIN BIN, Leipzig, 1784 ("I am Jesus' little lamb"). ART: The Sower by Jean-François Millet, c. 1865, public domain.

Like a dream it was, O Lord,
When the captives You restored!
Zion's mouth was filled with laughter;
Throats welled forth in song thereafter.
Nations could not but discuss
What great things You did for us.

Great things You have done indeed:
Let us all the more be freed.
Freshen us, like washes streaming
With the springtime torrents gleaming.
Come captivity again,
Break, we pray, oh, break its chain!

Though with tears we till our field,
Fill with joy our harvest yield!
We who sow with voices weeping
Will return with gladness reaping.
Lord, who calls the mourner blest,
Give the weary captive rest!

604. Qui confidunt

A paraphrase of Psalm 125, a Song of Ascents or pilgrimage hymn. I couldn't find a usable tune to suit it, so I wrote one on the spot; tune in when I release Profitable Hymns to get a look. ART: Mount Zion, engraved by W. Finden, 1836, after a sketch by F. Catherword, public domain.

Those who on the Lord rely
Stand like Zion's mount:
Firm, immovable for aye,
Guarded all around.

Evil's scepter shall not rest
On those reckoned just,
Lest iniquity should wrest
Them from pious trust.

Lord, do good unto the good,
Those upright at heart.
Grant that, having sin withstood,
They be set apart.

Those who turn to crooked ways
Cause, Lord, to decrease,
That on You may rest all praise,
And on Israel peace.

EDIT: All right, all right. Here it is:

603. Nisi quia Dominus

A paraphrase of Psalm 124, another Song of Ascents or pilgrimage hymn. For the tune, I'm turning to the old Lutheran Hymnary, John Adcock's 1882 tune DERWENT ("Behold, how good a thing").

Were God not on our side—
Proclaim it, Israël—
Were God not on our side
When foes upon us fell,
We had been swallowed in their ire,
Consumed by its volcanic fire.

Were God not on our side—
Let all His people say—
Were God not on our side,
We had been swept away.
The raging torrent would have drowned,
Without His ward, this holy ground.

Praise be to Adonai
Who, His belov'd to spare,
The dogs' teeth would deny,
Would break the fowler's snare.
In His name lies our hope of aid:
The One who earth and heaven made.

ART: Gustave Doré, The Great Flood, 1866, public domain. And the tune:

602. Ad te levavi

This is a paraphrase of Psalm 123, a Song of Ascents or pilgrimage hymn, continuing a series that goes back to Psalm 120 and forward (God willing) to Psalm 134. It's pretty brief, so don't blink. I'm recycling the tune SHEMINITH that I wrote for my paraphrase of Psalm 6, back here.

I lift my eyes to Thee,
Whose throne the heavens spans.
As man and maid beseechingly
Look to their masters' hands,
So too our eyes look the Lord
Till He full mercy doth accord.

Have mercy on us, Lord;
Yea, let Your love descend!
For men's contempt on us is poured,
With scorn that knows no end.
Hear the derision of the crowd,
The cruel catcalls of the proud!

ART: The Mocking of Christ by Matthias Grünewald, c.1503-05, public domain.

601. Levavi oculos

A paraphrase of Psalm 121, another Psalm of Ascents, or pilgrimage hymn. I'm thinking I might paraphrase the whole set of them. Not the whole psalter (goodness, no), just the Ascents ones, from Ps. 120 (which I've already done) to 134. Don't expect me to re-do 122, which I treated way back here. May the Lord bless this modest undertaking. For the tune, I picked a ditty called TUNBRIDGE by Jeremiah Clarke (†1707).

To the hills I lift my eyes:
Where is He who help supplies?
He so loved me that He willed
Even heav'n and earth to build.

He your every step will keep,
Lest you slip: He will not sleep.
Rest, O Israël, rely
On His watchful, wakeful eye!

See the Lord o'er you revealed
As a helm and sturdy shield:
Neither sun by day shall smite
You, nor fickle moon by night.

With the Lord, fear no alarm:
He will keep your soul from harm
And will guard you round about,
Coming in and going out.

ART: Jerusalem (1935) by Konstantin Ivanovich Gorbatov, public domain. And the tune: