Ryan Cornett

All My Ways Are In Thy Hand

Sheet music

WORDS: The New Metrical Version of the Psalms, 1909; alt.

MUSIC: Ryan Cornett, 2024

TUNE: QUAERES ME (8.8.8.7. w/ repeat and refrain)

Refrain

LORD, Thou hast searched me, and dost know

Where'er I rest, where'er I go;

Thou knowest all that I have planned,

All my ways are in Thy hand;

All my ways are in Thy hand.

1.

My words from Thee I cannot hide,

I feel Thy pow'r on ev'ry side;

O wondrous knowledge, awesome might,

Plumbless depth, unmeasured height!

Plumbless depth, unmeasured height!

2.

Where can I go apart from Thee,

Or whither from Thy presence flee?

In heav'n? It is Thy dwelling fair;

Death's abode? Lo, Thou art there;

Death's abode? Lo, Thou art there.

3.

If I the wings of morning take,

And far away my dwelling make,

The hand that leadeth me is Thine,

My support, Thy pow'r divine;

My support, Thy pow'r divine.

4.

If darkest night should cover me,

The darkness hideth not from Thee;

To Thee both night and day are bright,

Darkness shineth as the light;

Darkness shineth as the light.

About the Hymn

This particular paraphrase of Psalm 139 is first found in The New Metrical Version of the Psalms, 1909 (p. 204), with many psalters thereafter including it and rightly so! It is one of my favorite Psalms in meter, so I wanted to give it a memorable, driving tune with a melodic style lacking in much of English hymnody: the sea shanty. I wanted the tune to be fun but reverent, intended to serve well the incredible biblical truths brought forth from the text.

I made very slight changes to the language and to fit the meter of the tune as it materialized.