The poem reads, “From angry foe thy succor shall me save. / Thou Lord shalt finish what in hand I have,” and concludes, “Thou Lord, I say, whose mercy lasteth ever, / Thy work begun, shall leave unended never.” In a moment in which Israel faces brutal tribulation and the fury of the evil, there is little poetry can do — little but inspire hope and remind us of the enduring deepest truths.

The versifying of the psalms has a long history in English verse, particularly in the making of metrical versions that could be sung by Protestant congregations. And one of the earliest versifyings was begun by Philip Sidney (1554–1586). Sidney was an extraordinary figure: soldier, diplomat, courtier, poet, and theorist of literature.