HY do the heathen fiercely rage, The people strive in vain, While kings and princes counsel take Against the Lord again? Yea, 'gainst His own Anointed One They lift their proud array; But we will burst their firmest bonds, And cast their cords away.
For He who dwells enshrined in light, Shall laugh their rage to scorn, Shall stretch His hand in judgment forth, And cause their tribes to mourn. He shall speak to them in His wrath, And vex the nations still;— Yet have I firmly set My King On Zion's holy hill.
That high decree I will declare, For God hath said to Me, Thou art mine only Son! this day Have I begotten Thee. Now ask, and every heathen land, Earth's utmost wave-heat shore, Is Thine. Thou shalt possess them all, And reign for evermore.
Then Thou shalt place their guilty tribes Beneath an iron sway, Dissolve their impious rebel league, And dash them all away. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings, And hear a warning voice; Yea, turn and serve the Lord with fear And tremblingly rejoice.
Oh, kiss the Son, ere He shall come To steep the earth in blood: It He be wrath, how blest are they Whose trust is in their God!
HY do the heathen fiercely rage,
HY do the heathen fiercely rage,