This is a metrical version of Psalm 96, first entitled “The Lord of the Gentiles.” Isaac Watts (1674–1748; see Biographies) printed it in his Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, 1719. Originally it was in 8.8.8.8.D. meter, but has been altered through the years, the third and sixth lines being shortened to make the meter 8.8.6.6.D. For example, “To sing and bless His holy name” has become “And bless His holy name.” The omitted second stanza, which shows Watts’s extreme chauvinism, is:

The heathens know Thy glory, Lord;
The wondering nations read Thy Word,
In Britain is Jehovah known:
Our worship shall no more be paid
To gods which mortal hands have made;
Our Maker is our God alone.

OLD 113TH gets its name from the practice of giving a tune the same number as the psalm for which it was composed or for which it had become the most accepted. This custom dated back to William Kethe’s Genevan Psalter, 1561 (to be distinguished from Bourgeois’ Genevan Psalter, 1551). OLD 113TH is one of the seven melodies thought to have been contributed by Greiter to the book Strassburger Kirchenamt, 1525. John Calvin took it from a German psalter of 1526 and set it to Psalm 86 in his 1562 Psalter. It was also used for Psalm 36. The original tune was longer, irregular, and syncopated. Many editors, over a long period of time, were involved in changing it to its shorter, more regular form. J. S. Bach wrote a fine chorale setting of the tune and also composed an organ chorale prelude based upon it. Creative leaders will find possibilities for antiphonal singing of this hymn.

Matthäus Greiter was born c. 1500 at Aichach, Bavaria. He studied to be a singer and Roman Catholic monk at Strasbourg, but in 1524 he became a Lutheran minister there. John Calvin came to Strasbourg and preached from 1538 to 1541; he saw the success Greiter enjoyed in achieving fine congregational singing, so made him music editor of Calvin’s first Psalter, Strasbourg, 1539. Greiter served two churches and directed a choir-school before returning to the Roman Catholic Church. He died on December 20, 1550 (some say 1552).

The arrangement of OLD 113TH that SDAH uses is by Vicar Earl Coates (1921–; see SDAH 71), who arranged, a Methodist composer, editor, and writer. He was a member of the subcommittee on hymn tunes for the 1964 revision of the Methodist Hymnal.