The Song of Moses and the Lamb

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While planning a service based on the story of Moses’s birth and adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter, I came across a once-popular hymn by William Hammond called “Awake and Sing the Song.” (The original publication has no less than 14 verses!) Naturally, I wrote a new tune for it. I knew the text called for a tune as rough as a sea chanty, as epic as a murder ballad, and as joyously raucous as a shape-note hymn. What I came up with is a pentatonic melody that is equal parts “What Wondrous Love” and “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.” You can hear the piano accompaniment in the video below:

music by Greg Scheer
words adapted from “Awake and Sing the Song” by William Hammond, 1745
inspired by Revelation 15:2b-4
copyright August 19, 2019
CCLI #7160799
OneLicense #110651

1. Awake and sing the song
of Moses and the Lamb;
tune every heart and every tongue
to praise the Savior’s name.
Sing of his dying love;
sing of his rising power;
sing how Christ intercedes above
for those whose sins he bore.

2. Come, children of his grace,
do not refuse to sing;
but summon all your powers to praise
your Savior and your King.
Look back and see the state
in which your life once lay;
then wonder at a love so great
who did your ransom pay.

3. Tell in angelic strains
what Christ has done for you,
how he has taken off your chains
and formed your hearts anew.
The dungeon doors thrown wide
the prisoner was made whole.
May this same power now draw nigh
and free each captive soul.

4. We soon shall hear Christ say,
“You blessed children come!”
And we, his miracles of grace,
will join his heavenly home.
There shall each raptured tongue
his endless praise proclaim;
and sing in sweeter notes the song
of Moses and the Lamb.