Be Thou My Vision
Ancient Irish, tr. Mary Byrne & Eleanor Hull · 8th century / 1912
translated from the Old Irish by Mary Byrne (1905), versified by Eleanor Hull (1912)
The story behind the hymn
Somewhere around the eighth century, an Irish monk wrote a prayer beginning Rop tu mo baile — be thou my vision. Tradition links its spirit to St. Patrick, who three centuries earlier had defied the High King's pagan festival by lighting an Easter fire on the hill of Slane; the hymn's total allegiance — high king of heaven, my treasure thou art — breathes that same air.
The poem slept in manuscripts for a millennium. In 1905 the Dublin scholar Mary Byrne translated it into English prose; in 1912 Eleanor Hull set it into singable verse. Wedded to the Irish folk melody Slane — named for Patrick's hill — it crossed the world within a generation.
The hymn is a chain of be-thou petitions: vision, wisdom, true word, great Father, breastplate, sword, dignity, delight, shelter, tower, inheritance. It asks God not for things but to be the things. Its most quietly radical line prices everything else: riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise — thou mine inheritance, now and always.
The lyrics
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art —Thou my best thought, by day or by night,Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,Thou mine inheritance, now and always:Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'n's Sun!Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Public domain. Free to sing, copy, print, and share.
The Scripture behind it
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
None upon earth I desire beside thee — the hymn's whole posture, eight centuries earlier.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Treasure determines vision; the hymn prays them into one.