GIVE GLORY TO HIS HONORED NAME (FROM ATHALIA)

Music: George Frideric Handel
Text: Samuel Humphreys

The Old Testament account of Queen Athaliah describes her as a worshipper of Baal and an ambitious usurper who seized the throne of Judah and killed almost all the remaining claimants. Athaliah was, however, deposed and executed when the true King of Judah, Joash, was restored to the throne. French author Jean Racine produced a play on the story of Athaliah in 1691, and that play formed the basis of the 1733 oratorio by George Frideric Handel, to a libretto by Samuel Humphreys. 

In the final chorus, “Give Glory to His Awful Name,” Levites and Israelites celebrate the triumph of the God of Israel over the followers of Baal, and the restoration of the true King of Judah to the throne, foreshadowing the “King of Kings” who was to come. In Handel’s day, the word “awful” was meant literally, or in other words, “inspiring reverence and wonder.” In recognition of that word’s alternative connotation in modern English, The Tabernacle Choir sings instead “Give glory to His honored name,” a lyric expression with precedent in 19th century hymnody.

Give glory, give glory to His honored name,

Let every voice His praise proclaim!