Unless the Lord constructs the house

Mollie Knight’s straightforward paraphrase of a Psalm about cities and homes, work and rest, was published first in BP, then in the 1990 Songs from the Psalms. King Solomon’s name is traditionally attached to the original, but whether as source or intended audience is not so obvious. This ‘unless’ is a positive counterpart of the ‘unless not’ of Psalm 124; its gospel successor is John 15:5, ‘… for without me you can do nothing’. The first word reappears in Richard Gwyn’s The Psalms in Haiku Form (1997), a bold labour of love which is more convincing for these shorter items; so, ‘Unless the Lord builds/ the masons will be toiling/ vainly, without hope. Unless He keeps watch/ the sentries of the city/ will guard it in vain.’ Brian Foley’s If God is building when we build is one of several recent metrical versions; back in 1633 Phineas Fletcher wrote, ‘If God build not the house, and lay/ the groundwork sure, whoever build,/ it cannot stand one stormy day;/ if God be not the city’s shield,/ if he be not their bars and wall,/ in vain the watch-tower, men and all’. At least one new tune has been composed for the present text, but the recommended WILTSHIRE by George T Smart soon became established as its natural partner, although from two centuries earlier. It was a youthful production by the 19-year-old Smart, appearing in Divine Amusement: Being a Selection of the most admired Psalms, Hymns and Anthems used in St James’ Chapel… (etc), dated 1795 and prepared for the chapel in Hampstead Rd, London, where it was paired with Psalms 48 and 122. As late as 1863, the (by then) elderly composer revised and re-published the tune and first set it to Psalm 34 (from the 1696 New Version), Through all the changing scenes of life, here 768.

b 1917, d 1993. She was a Primary School Teacher and poet, a member with husband Trevor of Purley Baptist Ch, Surrey. She contributed paraphrases to The Book of Praises (1986), and Psalms for Today and Songs from the Psalms in 1990. Her version of the Beatitudes is included in Baptist Praise and Worship (1991, with 2 further hymns) and in the 2005 edn of A Panorama of Christian Hymnody. 10 of her texts are the Jubilate Hymns database, and her Christmas song Happy day of great rejoicing features in at least the 2 versions of Carol Praise (1987 and 2006). Nos.3, 103A, 127.