The Christian — Guidance and Protection

The Lord is my Shepherd, no want shall I know

No. 783
Metre 11s.
Tune PORTUGUESE HYMN.
Words James Montgomery.
Music John Reading.
Key G major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

The Lord is my Shepherd, no want shall I know;I feed in green pastures, safe-folded I rest;He leadeth my soul where the still waters flow,Restores me when wandering, redeems when oppressed.

Through the valley and shadow of death though I stray,Since thou art my Guardian, no evil I fear;Thy rod shall defend me, thy staff be my stay;No harm can befall, with my Comforter near.

In the midst of affliction my table is spread,With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o'er;With perfume and oil thou anointest my head;O, what shall I ask of thy providence more?

Let goodness and mercy, my bountiful God,Still follow my steps till I meet thee above;I seek—by the path which my forefathers trod,Through the land of their sojourn—thy kingdom of love.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHRISTIAN—GUIDANCE AND PROTECTION.»; hymn number «783» (large), tune name «PORTUGUESE HYMN. 11s.» centred over the music (condensed display capitals), «JOHN READING.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, one line per system, with «1.» before «The»; the music sings its fourth line twice, printed out in full under the staves («Re-stores me when wandering, redeems when oppressed, Restores me when wandering, redeems when oppressed.») — the stanza below gives the four verse lines once, as a poem, with the final reading «oppressed.» (under the music the line ends first with «oppressed,» and in the repeat with «oppressed.»). Under the staves only «safe- / fold - ed», «lead-eth» and the first «Re-stores» are hyphenated; «Shepherd», «pastures», «waters», «wandering», «redeems», «oppressed» and the second «Restores» are printed whole under two notes each (see `lyrics_syllables.txt`). «safe-folded» is written with its hyphen: at the end of system 1 the line-end hyphen of «safe-» is also the compound's hyphen. Stanzas 2–4 are printed as text in the left column below the music, under the reference line «781, 255.» in italics (= may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 781 or 255). «James Montgomery.» in italics after stanza 4. The long verse lines are broken by the narrow column («death / though I stray,», «no evil I / fear;», «be my / stay;», «Comforter / near.», «table is / spread,», «my cup / runneth o'er;», «anointest my / head;», «providence / more?», «bountiful / God,», «meet thee / above;», «forefathers / trod,», «sojourn—thy / kingdom of love.»); they are joined here, one verse per line. The stanza numbers of the text column are printed without a period («2», «3», «4»); they are written «2.» … here, like the interlinear «1.», as in the other deliveries of this book. The print sets a thin space before «;», «?» and «,» («know ;», «fear ;», «stay ;», «spread ,», «o'er ;», «head ;», «more ?», «above ;»); it is closed up here. The printer's curly apostrophe («o'er») is written straight. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's. Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented in the print.