Praise Ye The Lord

Petra quotes Psalm 117:1's opening almost directly, the shortest psalm in the Bible supplying the song's own structure: "praise ye the Lord all ye nations... His merciful kindness is great toward us." "The Word of the Lord is a two-edged sword, He's placed it in our hands" reaches for Hebrews 4:12's description of scripture as "living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword."

"Press toward the mark of the high call of God" lifts the image of straining toward a goal, placed here alongside a call to leave "the old carnal mind" behind. The song closes on the simplest possible declaration — "Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord forever" — after building through several more complex images, ending on the one claim none of the others could replace.