Setting
My God, my God, O why have you
Free Church of Scotland psalter · L.M.
The words
My God, my God, O why have you Forsaken and abandoned me? Why are you far from giving help, From listening to my anguished plea?
My God, I cry to you by day; You do not hear when I complain. I call to you throughout the night; In silence I cannot remain.
Yet you are holy: on the praise Of Israèl you are enthroned. In you our fathers put their trust; They trusted, and were not disowned.
They called, and you delivered them; You listened to them when they cried. Our fathers were not put to shame, Because on you they had relied.
But I’m a worm and not a man, By people scorned, reproached by all. And those who see me shake their heads; They sneer at me, and thus they call:
“This man has trusted in the LORD, So let him save him from his plight. Now let his God deliver him, Because in him he takes delight.”
Yet you, LORD, brought me from the womb; When I was at my mother’s breast You gave me cause to trust in you. From birth upon you I was cast.
Yes, from my mother’s womb till now, O LORD, you are my God alone. Be not far off, for trouble’s near, And other helper I have none.
Strong bulls of Bashan circle me, Wild bulls approach on every side. As roaring lions tear their prey, At me their mouths they open wide.
Like water I am emptied out, And all my bones are torn apart; My inmost being melts away, And into wax is turned my heart.
My strength is dried like shattered clay, And, as I fight to draw my breath, My tongue is sticking to my jaws; You lay me in the dust of death.
A pack of dogs encloses me; Their circle round me is complete. I am beset by evil men And they have pierced my hands and feet.
I count the number of my bones; With gloating eyes the people stare. They throw the dice to get my coat; Among themselves my clothes they share.
Come quickly, rescue me, my Strength; Do not be far from me, O LORD. Save me from power of evil dogs, My precious life from cruel sword.
From menace of the lions’ mouths And from their fury set me free. From peril of wild oxen’s horns You heard my cry and rescued me.
Now to my brothers I’ll declare The praises of your glorious name; Within their gathering I will stand And your renown I will proclaim.
Praise him, all you that fear the LORD; Give honour to him, Jacob’s race. All Isr’el’s children, worship him; Bow down with awe before his face.
He has not scorned the suffering Which on the afflicted one is laid; He did not hide his face from him, But listened to his cry for aid.
You are the theme of all my praise Within the great assembly, LORD; Before all those who fear your name I will fulfil my solemn word.
The poor will eat and will be filled And those who seek the LORD will give A shout of joyful praise to him. O may your hearts for ever live!
The whole earth will remember him And turn towards the LORD their God. All peoples will bow down to him— The nations of the world abroad.
Dominion to the LORD belongs And over nations he is king. The rich of all the earth will feast And worship with an offering.
All those whose destiny is dust Will humbly kneel before his throne; They cannot keep themselves alive, For they depend on him alone.
Posterity will serve the LORD; And generations still to come Will tell a people yet unborn The righteous acts that he has done.
Source & provenance
Free Church of Scotland psalter · psalter
An unedited transcription of the Sing Psalms (Free Church of Scotland, 2003) edition.
Full provenance & rights
- Base edition
- Sing Psalms (Free Church of Scotland, 2003)
- Editor
- Psalmody Committee of the Free Church of Scotland
- Editing
- unedited transcription
Rights
- Copyright
- rights-verified (display held); FCS terms recorded 2026-10-08 — verbatim text in a notated setting with independent tune MIDI is within terms (text free, FCS attribution displayed); copy/print/offline not granted; no audio derivatives
- Access
- free
- Display
- permitted
Tunes it can be sung to
4 tunes · all curated well-matched · LM
Galilee
Saxony
Soldau
Warrington
How is this list ordered?
Curated pairings come first — a tune a curator recorded against this text, with the fitness they recorded. A tune that merely shares the meter is listed as a tune in the same meter and never as a pairing.
Nothing here is ranked by popularity or use. The page reports what a curator recorded, not a verdict of its own.