Thanksgiving Day, 2025: "We Gather Together"

WE GATHER TOGETHER

Netherlands folk hymn; translated by Theodore Baker

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

He chastens and hastens His will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,

Sing praises to His name: He forgets not His own.

Beside is to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning:

Thou, Lord, wast at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,

And pray that Thou still our Defender wilt be.

Let Thy congregation escape tribulation:

Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

"The Sixty-seventh Psalm" by John Davies

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Here, for Thanksgiving Day, is a Biblical poem, Psalm 67 as rendered by poet John Davies (1569-1626). This Biblical poem is "A Psalm or Song" exhorting the nations to praise God.


THE SIXTY-SEVENTH PSALM
by John Davies

Show us thy mercy, Lord, and grace divine;
Turn thy bright face, that it on us may shine,
That all the men on earth enlightened so,
Their own salvation, and thy ways may know.
O let thy people praise thy blessed name,
And let all tongues and nations do the same,
And let all mortal men rejoice in this,
That God their judge and just his judgment is.
O let thy people praise thy blessed name,
And let all tongues and nations do the same,
Then shall the earth bring forth a rich increase,
And God shall bless us with a fruitful peace;
Even God shall bless us and his holy fear
Possess the hearts of all men everywhere.


Source: The Poets' Book of Psalms (1995), Compiled, Edited, and Introduced by Laurance Wieder