Come, All You People, Praise Our God

Other Resources

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Performance Notes:

• The following article is from the Psalter Hymnal Handbook.

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st.1 = Ps. 66:8-12
st.2 = Ps. 66:13-15
st.3 = Ps. 66:16-20

Though this versification is based on Psalm 66:8-20, it doesn’t incorporate the strong literary images of the biblical text (66). Still, “Come, All You People” does pick up significant themes common to praise psalms: praise God for deliverance (st.1), fulfillment of vows and dedication to God’s service (st.2), and public testimony to God’s salvation and care (st.3). Stanzas 1 and 2 use the plural case, calling all people to communal and consecrated worship of God, and stanza 3 uses the singular, relating the psalmist’s personal experience with God for the benefit of “all who fear the Lord.”

The versification (altered) is from the 1912 Psalter and originally began with the words “Come, all ye people, bless our God.”

Liturgical Use:
Beginning of worship; offering of gifts, times of turmoil; thanksgiving for deliverance.

Tune Information:

ADOWA was composed by Charles H. Gabriel, the noted gospel songwriter, during the Billy Sunday-Homer Rodeheaver evangelistic crusades of the 1910s, and was published with this text in the 1912 Psalter. Sing the tune in two very long phrases.