In Judah God of Old Was Known

¹In Judah God of old was known;
His Name in Israel great;
In Salem stood his holy throne,
And Sion was his seat.

²Among the praises of his saints
His dwelling there he chose;
There he receiv'd their just complaints
Against their haughty foes.

³From Sion went his dreadful word,
And broke the threatening spear;
The bow, the arrows, and the sword,
And crush'd th' Assyrian war.

⁴What are the earth's wide kingdoms else
But mighty hills of prey?
The hill on which Jehovah dwells
Is glorious more than they.

⁵'Twas Sion's King that stopt the breath
Of captains and their bands:
The men of might slept fast in death,
And never found their hands.

⁶At thy rebuke, O Jacob's God,
Both horse and chariot fell;
Who knows the terrors of thy rod?
Thy vengeance who can tell?

⁷What power can stand before thy sight
When once thy wrath appears?
When heaven shines round with dreadful light,
The earth lies still and fears.

⁸When God in his own sovereign ways
Comes down to save th' opprest,
The wrath of man shall work his praise,
And he'll restrain the rest.

⁹Vow to the Lord, and tribute bring,
Ye princes, fear his frown:
His terror shakes the proudest king,
And cuts an army down.

¹⁰The thunder of his sharp rebuke
Our haughty foes shall feel:
For Jacob's God hath not forsook,
But dwells in Sion still.