This is, unsurprisingly, a song for gathering. Theodore Baker translated the Dutch original Wilt heden nu treden using all sorts of flourishes with clever internal rhymes and alliteration. I wonder if the original is as much fun. It is set to KREMSER.
OCP sell the sheet music.
This is one version of the text:
1 We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
he chastens and hastens his will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.2 Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning;
thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!3 We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation endure through tribulation:
thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
The spoilsports at OCP use this version, destroying the internal rhyme in the second line of the second stanza to make the rhyme with “yours” work:
1 We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
he chastens and hastens his will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.2 Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
whose kingdom calls all to love which endures.
so from the beginning the fight we were winning;
you, Lord, were at our side: all glory be yours!3 We all do extol you, our leader triumphant,
and pray that you still our defender will be.
Let your congregation escape tribulation:
your name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!