Psalm 91 (The Psalm of Protection)
COMPOSER’S NOTE
In 2010 I worked with Bob Trocchia and the Lancaster Chorale Ohio when they commissioned and premiered my Te Deum. A few years later I was honoured to be asked by the Chorale to set Psalm 91 for Bob on his retirement from the choir. The piece is written for an a cappella SATB choir with an SATB quartet.
As a psalm of protection, it is commonly invoked in times of hardship and conveys God’s protection and rescue from danger, including the “terror”, “arrow”, “pestilence”, “darkness”, “sickness” and “destruction” mentioned in verses 5–6.
DURATION
14 minutes
CHORUS
unaccompanied SATB & SATB quartet
YEAR OF COMPOSITION
2015
PUBLISHER
Hawes Music
SHEET MUSIC
Available from
Hawes Music
JW Pepper
Music Room
Music Shop Europe
Psalm 91
Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the most High :
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say unto the Lord, Thou art my hope, and my strong hold :
my God, in him will I trust.
For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter :
and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall defend thee under his wings, and thou shalt be safe under his feathers :
his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night:
nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
For the pestilence that walketh in darkness :
nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noon-day.
A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand :
but it shall not come nigh thee.
Yea, with thine eyes shalt thou behold :
and see the reward of the ungodly.
For thou, Lord, art my hope :
thou hast set thine house of defence very high.
.
There shall no evil happen unto thee :
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee :
to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee in their hands :
that thou hurt not thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt go upon the lion and adder :
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet.
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him :
I will set him up, because he hath known my Name.
He shall call upon me, and I will hear him :
yea, I am with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and bring him to honour.
With long life will I satisfy him :
and shew him my salvation.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son
: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
Words: The Book of Common Prayer
