Be Thou My Vison (5 Verses) | Hymns

Be Thou My Vision has 5 Verses (Stanzas)?

    Yes, friend. This wonderful song often has its third stanza removed.  The version that we typically sing is the English version translated by Eleanor Hull in 1912. She has two fairly similar versions, and both include the mysterious stanza 3. I didn't learn about this missing stanza until I visited a church on vacation. Here it is:

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;

Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;

Thou my soul's Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:

Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.

Maybe you sang those words as you read them, maybe not. But those words bring immense comfort as we realize this life is full of battles with the enemy. 

Why is this third stanza so important? 

If you survey many hymns, you'll see that most tell a story in a way. They follow some simple formulas: 

1. Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation

2. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

3. Acknowledging God's authority/presence, God created, God sustains, God wins the battle

4. Birth, Life, Future Glory

There are many formulas for hymn writing, but we are missing some rich theological elements of our worship if we do not see a recognizable pattern. Our God is an orderly God. Everything he does is in good and right order, something that Presbyterians wish to reflect. Because of this, our Hymns often take on a rightly ordered shape. Hymns do not have points where a singer breaks into random solos or vague repetitions. They do have a rich theology, a rich history, and they help the church to rightly sing about our God. 

So, why is the third stanza important?

Let's look at the Hymn:

• The 1st stanza is about God guiding the singer in his sight by day or night, whether waking or sleeping. 
• The 2nd stanza talks about God guiding through wisdom, which true wisdom originates in knowing who God is and how he relates to us. 
• The 3rd stanza highlights our need for guidance in the battle, which combines our sight and our wisdom. It is in the battle when we need guidance from the Lord so that we do not falter or fail, but keep pressing forward. Power in battle comes from the Lord.
• The 4th stanza shows us the need for guidance when we have won in our lives, and we have riches or fame. For all that matters is God, who is first in our hearts. 
• The 5th stanza talks about the true victory that is won by Christ, which leads us to eternal life with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Now that I know about this missing third stanza, I long to sing it in the church context. But, alas, due to many not being aware of this third stanza and the fact that many hymnals leave it out, we don't often sing this third and wonderful verse.

But I know with full confidence that when we join the Lord in those last days, we will sing all five verses of this song, and many, many more songs that will glorify God as we enjoy Him forever!