The King of Love My Shepherd Is

The King of Love My Shepherd Is
GenreHymn
Written1868
TextHenry Williams Baker
Based onPsalm 23
Meter8.7.8.7
Melody"Dominus Regit Me" by John Bacchus Dykes

The King of Love My Shepherd Is is an 1868 hymn with lyrics written by Henry Williams Baker, based on the Welsh version of Psalm 23 and the work of Edmund Prys.[1][2][3]

It is most often sung to one of four different melodies:

  1. "Dominus Regit Me", composed by John Bacchus Dykes, a friend and contemporary of Henry Williams Baker. It first appeared in the 1868 appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern.[4][5] In 1997 this version was sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.[6]
  2. The traditional Irish tune "St. Columba". The tune was first paired with the text in The English Hymnal (1906), harmonised by Charles Villiers Stanford.[7][8]
  3. "Remsen", by Rees Thomas, which first appeared in Daniel Prothero's Welsh 1918 hymnbook Cân a Mawl, for the Calvanistic Methodists of North America.[9]
  4. "Ich dank' dir schon", composed by Michael Praetorius in 1610, as published in The Lutheran Hymnal, No. 431 (1941).[10]

Other choral settings of the text include those by Edward Bairstow (1931), Charles Gounod (1899), Harry Rowe Shelley (1886) and Arthur Somervell (1903).[11] There are many other settings of texts derived from Psalm 23.[12]

Henry Baker's last words were reportedly lyrics from this hymn.[13]

Lyrics

The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never. 
I nothing lack if I am his, 
and he is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow, 
my ransomed soul he leadeth; 
and where the verdant pastures grow, 
with food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed, 
but yet in love he sought me; 
and on his shoulder gently laid, 
and home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death's dark vale I fear no ill, 
with thee, dear Lord, beside me; 
thy rod and staff my comfort still, 
thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spreadst a table in my sight; 
thy unction grace bestoweth; 
and oh, what transport of delight 
from thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days, 
thy goodness faileth never; 
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise 
within thy house forever.

References

  1. ^ Yr Arglwydd yw fy Mugail clau
  2. ^ Francis Arthur Jones (1903). Famous hymns and their authors. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 178.
  3. ^ Towner, W. Sibley. "'Without Our Aid Did He Us Make': Singing the Meaning of the Psalms". In Patrick D. Miller; Brent A. Strawn; Nancy R. Bowen (2003). A God So Near: Essays on Old Testament Theology in Honor of Patrick D. Miller. Eisenbrauns. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-57506-067-5.
  4. ^ John Julian (1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology. Vol. 1. John Murray. p. 327.
  5. ^ Pearce, James (7 March 2023). Hymn Music. BoD – Books on Demand. p. xiii. ISBN 978-3-382-13023-7.
  6. ^ "The Funeral Service of Diana, Princess Wales: Order of Service". BBC News. 6 September 1997. Archived from the original on 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  7. ^ The English hymnal, with tunes. University of Toronto. Oxford University Press. 1906. p. 638.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ^ The Harvard University Hymn Book. Harvard University Press. 2007. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-0-674-02696-4.
  9. ^ 'Remsen (Thomas)' at Hymnary.org
  10. ^ 'The Lutheran Hymnal #431', Hymnary.org
  11. ^ The King of love my shepherd is, ChoralWiki
  12. ^ Vance D. Wolverton. 'Choral Settings of Psalm Twenty-three in English: An Annotated Bibliography', Parts 1 and 2, in The Choral Journal, Vol. 35, Nos. 9 and 10, April/May 1995
  13. ^ Robert Morgan (2003). Then Sings My Soul: 150 of the World's Greatest Hymn Stories. Thomas Nelson Inc. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-4185-7824-4.