The Spacious Firmament on high, an adaptation of Psalms 19 in English verse by Joseph Addison (1712)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Joseph Addison

Shared on:

4 April 2026 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Psuqei d'Zimrah/Zemirot l'Shabbat ul'Yom Tov

Tags:

18th century C.E., 55th century A.M., English poetry, psalms 19

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim: Th’ unwearied sun, from day to day, Does his Creator’s power display, And publishes to every land The work of an Almighty Hand.
	Soon as the ev’ning shades prevails The moon takes up the wond’rous tale, And nightly to the list’ning earth Repeats the story of her birth: Whilst all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole.
	What though, in solemn silence, all Move round the dark terrestrial ball? What tho’ nor real voice nor sound Amid their radiant orbs be found? In reason’s ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice, For ever singing, as they shine, The hand that made us is Divine.

This is Joseph Addison’s ode, “The Spacious Firmament on high,” an adaptation of Psalms 19 in English verse first published in The Spectator (23 August 1712).

Source(s)

The Spacious firmament on high (Joseph Addison in The Spectator, 23 August 1712), p. 296

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719), born in Milston, Wiltshire, England was a British writer and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. His simple prose style marked the end of the mannerisms and conventional classical images of the 17th century. Addison is also famous for his play Cato, a Tragedy.

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The Spindle of Necessity Platonic model of Planetary Orbits (credit: Cosmosanchez, license: CC BY-SA)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

The Spacious Firmament on high, an adaptation of Psalms 19 in English verse by Joseph Addison (1712)

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