O Worship the King
Text by Robert Grant (1833), based on Psalm 104. Music arranged by William Gardiner (1815) from Haydn. Public domain in all jurisdictions.
Verse 1
GO wor-ship the CKing, all Gglo-rious aDbove
GO grate-ful-ly Csing His Dpow'r and His Glove
Our GShield and DeCfend-er, the GAn-cient of EmDays
PaAmvil-ioned in Dsplen-dor and Ggird-ed with Dpraise
Verse 2
GO tell of His Cmight, O Gsing of His Dgrace
Whose Grobe is the Clight, whose Dcan-o-py Gspace
His Gchar-iots of Cwrath the Gdeep thun-der-Emclouds form
And Amdark is His Dpath on the Gwings of the Dstorm
Verse 3
GThy boun-ti-ful Ccare what Gtongue can reDcite
It Gbreathes in the Cair, it Dshines in the Glight
It Gstreams from the Chills, it Gde-scends to the Emplain
And Amsweet-ly disDtills in the Gdew and the Drain
Verse 4
GFrail chil-dren of Cdust and Gfee-ble as Dfrail
In GThee do we Ctrust, nor Dfind Thee to Gfail
Thy Gmer-cies how Cten-der, how Gfirm to the Emend
Our AmMa-ker, DeDfend-er, ReGdeem-er and DFriend
Structure
Playing Tips
🎸 Strum Pattern — Verse
O Worship the King flows naturally with four downstrokes per measure. Keep the strum unhurried at around 80 BPM and let the chords ring through each beat. The G to C to Em movement in the verse is a great opportunity to let the guitar ring out rather than chop through the rhythm.
🔊 Dynamics
This hymn works well with a graduated build. We start verse 1 with guitar and vocals, add keys on verse 2, and bring the full band in on verse 3. Verse 4 is the most personal verse in the text, so we sometimes pull back to just acoustic for a more intimate close.
🎵 Band Direction
Keys should play a full pad throughout this hymn. The melody is stately and the harmonic movement from G to D to Em to Am benefits from sustained chord voicings. Guitar strums full open chords. Bass can walk through the D to G transitions to add some movement.
🎤 Vocal
The key of G sits comfortably for most mixed voices. The melody does not strain into high territory, which makes this a good congregational hymn for churches where not everyone is a trained singer. The call to worship character of the text encourages open, confident singing.
→ Transitions
The four verses of O Worship the King tell a complete story. We treat them as a continuous act of worship rather than separate sections. Keep transitions smooth and uninterrupted. A short piano interlude of four bars between verses 1 and 2 can help set the mood before the full band joins.