A hymn and its story
Holy, Holy, Holy
Words by Reginald Heber, published 1826 · music by John B. Dykes
This hymn simply joins a song already being sung in heaven, where the cry 'Holy, holy, holy' never stops, day or night.
The story behind it
Reginald Heber was an English clergyman, later a bishop in India, who wanted his congregation to have worthy hymns for the seasons of the church year. He wrote Holy, Holy, Holy for Trinity Sunday, and it was published in 1826, shortly after his early death. Decades later John Bacchus Dykes gave it the majestic tune 'Nicaea,' named for the council where the Church confessed the triune God.
The hymn takes its words straight from heaven's own worship. In Revelation 4, John sees the throne of God surrounded by living creatures who 'rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.' To sing this hymn is not to start a new song but to join one already in progress, the ceaseless praise of heaven, and to let earth's voice blend, for a few minutes, into it.
The words
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
The Scripture behind it
Why it still moves us
Worship can shrink until it is mostly about us, our needs, our feelings. This hymn lifts the eyes higher. It says almost nothing about the worshipper and almost everything about God: holy, almighty, merciful, eternal, three in one. To sing it is to be caught up, for a moment, into something vast and true that was going on long before you arrived and will go on forever, and to remember that the point of your life is to join that song.
Sing it, and mean it
A hymn is a prayer you can carry in your chest. The people who wrote these did not write from a stage; they wrote from shipwreck and sickbeds, from ordinary faithful mornings, and handed us words for the days we cannot find our own. You do not have to sing well. You only have to lift it, and mean it, to the One it is about.
Meet the One these hymns are aboutWorship in The Living BreadCome into his presenceRead Revelation 4Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- Who wrote Holy, Holy, Holy?
- Reginald Heber, an English clergyman and later bishop, wrote the words for Trinity Sunday; they were published in 1826. John B. Dykes composed the tune 'Nicaea' decades later.
- What Scripture is Holy, Holy, Holy based on?
- Revelation 4:8, where the living creatures around God's throne 'rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.' The hymn joins that unending heavenly praise.
- Why is 'holy' repeated three times?
- The threefold 'holy' expresses God's perfect, complete holiness, and the hymn links it to God as three Persons, one God, the blessed Trinity, echoing the vision of heaven's worship in Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6.