Okan Mi Yin Oba Orun / Praise My Soul the King of Heaven

Words by Henry Francis Lyte

Okan mi yin Oba orun Mu ore wa si odo Re; 'Wo ta wosan ta dariji, Ta la ba ha yin bi Re? Yin Oluwa/2x Yin Oba ainipekun. Yin, fun anu t'O ti fihan, Fawon Baba n'nu 'ponju; Yin I, okan na Ni titi, O lora lati binu, Yin Oluwa/2x Ologo n'nu otito. Bi baba ni O ntoju wa, O si mo ailera wa; Jeje l' O ngbe wa l' apa Re, O gba wa lowo ota, Yin Oluwa/2x Anu Re yi aiye ka. A ngba b' itanna eweko, T' afefe nfe, t' o si nro 'Gbati a nwa, ti a si nku, Olorun wa bakanna; Yin Oluwa/2x Oba alainipekun. Angel', e jumo ba wa bo, Enyin nri lojukoju; Orun, osupa, e wole, Ati gbogbo agbaiye, E ba wa yin/2x Olorun Olotito. Source: Yoruba Baptist Hymnal #301

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven; To his feet thy tribute bring. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, Who are me his praise should sing? Alleluia, alleluia! Praise the everlasting King! Praise him for his grace and favour To our fathers in distress. Praise him, still the same forever, Slow to chide, and swift to bless. Alleluia, alleluia! Glorious in His faithfulness! Father-like He tends and spares us; Well our feeble frame He knows. In His hand He gently bears us, Rescues us from all our foes. Alleluia, alleluia! Widely as His mercy flows! Frail as summer's flower we flourish, Blows the wind and it is gone; But while mortals rise and perish God endures unchanging on, Alleluia, alleluia! Praise the High Eternal One! Angels, help us to adore Him; Ye behold Him face to face. Sun and moon, bow down before him, Dwellers all in time and space. Alleluia, alleluia! Praise with us the God of grace!

Lyte, Henry Francis, son of Captain Thomas Lyte, was born at Ednam, near Kelso, June 1, 1793, and educated at Portora (the Royal School of Enniskillen), and at Trinity College, Dublin, of which he was a Scholar, and where he graduated in 1814. During his University course he distinguished himself by gaining the English prize poem on three occasions. At one time he had intended studying Medicine; but this he abandoned for Theology, and took Holy Orders in 1815, his first curacy being in the neighbourhood of Wexford. In 1817, he removed to Marazion, in Cornwall. There, in 1818, he underwent a great spiritual change, which shaped and influenced the whole of his after life, the immediate cause being the illness and death of a brother clergyman. Read more here.