Bible Verses for For The Beauty of The Earth

I have always loved the hymn For the Beauty Of the Earth.  We sang it at my childhood church.  As a nature lover, it definitely spoke to me.  However, it goes beyond praising and thanking God for the beauty of His creation.  It also expresses gratitude for the other people God has brought into our lives and the great gift of Jesus our Savior.  

We sang a different arrangement of For the Beauty Of the Earth in my high school's choir (yes, in a public school and only about 20 years ago).  I didn't know if I would be able to find that arrangement online because I didn't even know the arranger, but I was able to quickly find a video of the arrangement by John Rutter.  Apparently, it is very popular.

If you are looking for a version to play in a more modern worship service, this one is great.

Or if you just want to relax to a piano arrangement, Chris Rice is amazing.

However you choose to listen to this hymn, this is definitely one to add to your Thanksgiving playlist.  The overall theme of this song seems to be these two verses:

James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Hebrews 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 

For The Beauty of The Earth

by Folliott Sanford Pierpoint, 1864

Verse 1:
For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,

Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.

Psalm 33:5 He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Psalm 32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.

Refrain:
Lord of all*, to Thee we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.

Hebrews 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Psalm 147:7  Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises to our God on the lyre,

Verse 2:
For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,

2 Peter 3:8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light,

Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

Psalm 148:3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light!

Verse 3:
For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild,

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater;

Verse 4:
For yourself, best gift divine,
to the world so freely given,

Jesus said in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

agent of God's grand design:
peace on earth and joy in heaven.

Ephesians 3:11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,

1 John 4:14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 

The angels praised Jesus birth saying in Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

* Pierpoint wrote this line as "Christ, our God, to Thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise."  There are now many variations of this line changing "Christ, our God" to "Lord of all" or "Christ, our Lord" and "our sacrifice of praise" to "our hymn of grateful praise."  All of these lines are great with the original text pointing more toward Hebrews 13:15 and the latter toward Psalm 50:23.