Jehovah, Hallelujah

DESCRIPTION: "Jehovah, Hallelujah, the Lord will provide (x2)." "The foxes have a hole, and the birdies have a nest, The Son of Man he dunno where to lay the weary head."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus home nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates, p. 2, "Jehovah, Hallelujah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11861
NOTES [175 words]: The phrase "The Lord will provide" is proverbial, but with an interesting twist. In Genesis 22, Abraham is commanded by God to sacrifice his only (legitimate) son Isaac. Abraham takes the boy to the land of Moriah, where Isaac asks, "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answers, "God will provide." (Note the use of the word God, not Yahweh=The Lord). But as Abraham is about to murder his son, God intervenes and tells Abraham to sacrifice a ram he finds trapped instead. Abraham therefore names that place "Yahweh-Yireh," "Yahweh will provide," which in modern English versions is rendered "The Lord will provide."
The King James version, however, does not render the verse this way, reading instead, "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh, as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." Thus the first verse of this song seems to be based on a mixture of the King James rendering and an accurate rendering.
The second verse, about foxes having holes, derives from Matthew 8:20=Luke 9:58. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG002A

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