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O Lord, Thou God of Vengeance

• Score: $1.50 (for reproduction rights; minimum purchase of 10 required; additional charge for hard copies)
• SATB chorus
• Sacred text (“Bloodthirsty” contemporary setting of Psalm 94)
• 3:30
• Difficulty rating (1-5): 5
• Hear a performance of the work (Plymouth State University Chamber Singers, Dan Perkins, conductor)
• View a PDF score excerpt
• Purchase, request full review copy or more information, etc.

This is a work which one church choir director described as “too bloodthirsty for liturgical performance!”  It’s been performed to great effect by the Plymouth State University Chamber Singers, whose performance is featured here.

O Lord, thou God of vengeance,
thou God of vengeance, shine forth!
Rise up, O judge of the earth;
render to the proud their deserts!
O Lord, how long,
how long shall the wicked ones triumph?
They pour out their arrogant words;
they boast, all the evildoers.
They crush thy people,
and afflict thy heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger,
and murder the fatherless;
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent blood;
and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
Understand, O dullest of the people!
Fools, when will you be wise?
He who made ears, does he not hear?
He who made eyes, does he not see?
He who made justice, does he not chastise?
He who made knowledge, does he not know?
Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evil?
The Lord is my defense;
my God is the rock of my refuge.
And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity
and shall wipe them out in their own wickedness;
the Lord our God shall wipe them out.
O Lord, thou God of vengeance,
thou God of vengeance, shine forth!

-- Psalm 94, alt.

 

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