This Is My Father's World
Maltbie Babcock's hymn that the created world belongs to God, and that God still rules it.
The words are public domain. We print a hymn only after checking it word for word against a dated old printing, and this one hasn’t been checked yet. Hymnary has it now.
“This Is My Father's World” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
The singer hears God in the birds, the trees and the sky, and holds that though wrong seems strong, God is still the ruler and the battle is not done.
It rests on Psalm 24:1, 'The earth is the Lord's', and on Jesus' teaching that the Father feeds the birds and clothes the lilies (Matthew 6:26-30).
It is sung in the season after Pentecost and at creation festivals. Maltbie Babcock, a Presbyterian pastor, wrote it as a sixteen-stanza poem; it was printed in 1901, the year of his death.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Maltbie Davenport Babcock, 1901 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Tune | TERRA BEATA · Franklin L. Sheppard (arranger, from a traditional English melody), 1915 | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against hymnary.org text, tune and person pages (attribution and rights only). The words are not transcribed here yet.
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.