"Adored for ever be the Lord" is a composite four-stanza metrical cento based on Psalm 28 ("Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock"). The text gained formal recognition in American hymnody through its inclusion in the Protestant Episcopal Church's Hymnal: According to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, published in 1872 (No. 421).
Structurally, the hymn combines distinct textual sources to construct a brief liturgical paraphrase of praise and divine petition:
The first stanza, consisting of four lines, is taken directly from the New Version of the Psalms of David (1696), authored by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady. In Tate and Brady's original psalmody, these opening lines correspond to the metrical rendering of Psalm 28:6 ("Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications").
The remaining three stanzas (stanzas II through IV) are anonymous additions supplied to complete the hymn for congregational singing. These supplementary stanzas expand upon the initial verse of thanksgiving by adding general petitions for divine guidance, protection, and sustained spiritual support for the Christian church, drawing upon the thematic structure of the closing verses of Psalm 28.
Related Authors
Writers connected to this dictionary topic.
Keywords
Related terms for this dictionary entry.
Recent Dictionary Entries
Newly added terms from the Dictionary of Hymnology.
If you notice any mistake or have suggestions, please contact us on our contact page.