Song for a Young Prophet (O the Word of my Lord)

Song of a young prophet superimposed over a colour sketch of the cross of the resurrected Jesus on a hilltop in glorious light: Chorus: Oh the Word of my Lord, deep within my being. O the Word of my Lord, You have filled my mind. 1: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you thru and thru I chose you to be mine before you left your mother’s side I called to you my child to be my sign. 2: I know that you are very young, but I will make you strong I will fill you with my word, and you will travel through the land fulfilling my command, which you have learned. 3: And everywhere you are to go, My hand will follow you, you will not be alone, In all the danger that you fear You’ll find me very near, Your words my own. 4: With all my strength you will be filled, You will destroy and build, For that is my design, You will create and overthrow, Reap and harvest I will sow, Your word is mine.

This hymn, based on Jeremiah 1, was composed by English brother and teacher Damian Lundy. It is sometimes referred to as "Song of a Young Prophet".

It was first published in Songs of the Spirit in 1978, and it is still available today in McCrimmon's Celebration Hymnal for Everyone and Catholic Hymns Old and New.

It is set to an unnamed tune, also by Lundy. This has a 4/4 time signature, and in the key of D the first few notes of the melody are FG A F D E_ with accompanying chords D / Em.

Performance notes with the original publication say that everyone sings the chorus, but the leader or cantor sings the verses alone.

Downloads

Examples

A professionally produced recording, sung by boy-choristers

Sung by a bible-class, guitar accompaniment

An instrumental-only version.

Lyrics

The full lyrics cannot be given here as the text is copyright. But they are available on this website.

The song has a four-line chorus which is repeated after ever verse. There are four verses, each three line long and each line has two phrases. A rough outline is:

Chorus
Oh the Word of my Lord,
Deep within ...

1 Before I formed you in the womb, ...

2 I know that you are very young, ...

3 And everywhere you are to go, ...

4 With all my strength you will be filled ...