Jehovah Tsidkenu

Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843) 

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,

I knew not my danger; and felt not my load;

Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure, to soothe or engage,

Isaiah’s wild measure and John’s simple page;

But even when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,

I wept when the waters went over His soul,

Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree

Jehovah Tsidkenu — ’twas nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me by light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;

No refuge, no safety in self could I see —

Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;

My guilty fear banished, with boldness I came

To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free—

Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.

Jehovah Tsidkenu! My treasure and boast,

Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne’er can be lost;

In Thee shall I conquer by flood and by field—

My cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield!

Even treading the valley; the shadow of death,

This “watchword” shall rally my faltering breath;

For while from life’s fever my God sets me free,

Jehovah Tsidkenu my death-song shall be.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jehovah Tsidkenu

which means

The Lord Our Righteousness

Jehovah Tsidkenu is taken from the Anglicised Hebrew of the following two verses in the prophet Jeremiah:

"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is his name by which he will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Jer. 23:5-6) NKJV

The phrase Jehovah Tsidkenu became known as "the watchword of the reformers". This poem, written by Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843) can be sung as a hymn to various tunes, including How Firm a Foundation and My Jesus, I Love Thee.