Lyrics: K., published in John Rippon’s A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, 1787.
Music: PROTECTION from a compilation of tunes by Joseph Funk, sung here by Fernando Ortega:
Or here’s an alternate tune from Sovereign Grace:
Theme: Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you. Isaiah 43:2
This hymn was sung at the funerals of U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, also at the funeral of General Robert E. Lee. It was a favorite hymn of Andrew Jackson’s beloved wife, Rachel, who died before his inauguration, and Jackson asked to hear it on his deathbed to remind him that he would go to join her heaven.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you, who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with you, O be not dismayed,
For I am your God and will still give you aid;
I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call you to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with you, your troubles to bless,
And sanctify to you your deepest distress.
When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be your supply;
The flame shall not hurt you; I only design
Your dross to consume, and your gold to refine.
Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
This hymn is unusual in that it uses the words of God to speak to us, which we then sing back to Him. I especially love singing those last lines: “That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never, forsake!”
Hallelujah!
One of my/our all-time favorites at Fremont Baptist. Our hymnal only has four stanzas (1,3,5 and 7 of the original), but I usually sing verse 4 while the congregation sings verse 5, because I find the deep waters speak to me more meaningfully than the fiery trials. But I sing a slightly different text, instead of “the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow” I sing “the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow”. Once or twice in our evening service we’ve sung all seven, and I would almost always sing all seven if I could choose. I certainly do when I’m singing it while waiting for a bus or something.
As to tunes, most older American hymnals set this text to Portuguese Hymn aka ADESTE FIDELES. It wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that the tune you call PROTECTION, also known as BELLEVUE and now most usually as FOUNDATIION, managed to break through the invisible wall that separated the shape note traditions from the mainstream. In England, I think MONTGOMERY was the usual tune until quite recently.
I wrote a song (not really a hymn; I call it a “sacred ballad”) awhile back, 1996 I think, to the FOUNDATION tune, based on the first half of John 21; in English it’s entitled “Come Then, Let’s Have Breakfast”. I wrote it first in Esperanto, and when it was first published (in Europe) they set it to MONTGOMERY because they didn’t know any better.
The English version is here in the Oremus Hymnal wiki.