How Firm a Foundation: The Story and Scripture Behind the Hymn

“How Firm a Foundation” has outlived almost every hymn of its generation. It was sung at Robert E. Lee’s funeral, printed in the first Latter-day Saint hymnbook and still appears in most Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian hymnals. Yet nobody can say for certain who wrote it. The first printing names the author with a single letter: “K—”.

This guide covers what is actually known: where the hymn first appeared, the candidates for its author, the Bible passages behind each stanza, the tunes it is sung to and how to use it well in a service today.

Quick Answer

“How Firm a Foundation” was first published in 1787 as hymn number 128 in A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, compiled by John Rippon, pastor of the Carter Lane Baptist Church in London. It had seven four-line stanzas, no music, and the heading “Exceeding great and precious promises,” taken from 2 Peter 1:4.

The author is given only as “K—”. Most hymnologists think this points to Robert Keene, the precentor (song leader) at Rippon’s church, but it has never been proven. The tune most American congregations know, FOUNDATION, is an anonymous folk melody first printed in 1832.

Where the Hymn First Appeared

John Rippon (1751–1836) compiled his Selection as an appendix to Isaac Watts’s psalms and hymns, and it became one of the most popular hymnals of its time, with eleven English editions and one American edition before his death.

The original page still tells us a lot. The hymn sits in a section called “Scripture Promises.” The meter is marked “Elevens” (11.11.11.11), meaning four lines of eleven syllables with a rolling, triple-time rhythm. The heading first cited “2 Pet. iii. 4” by mistake; from the third edition, around 1791, it was corrected to 2 Peter 1:4.

The most interesting detail is a footnote on the very last line. Rippon wrote that it was “agreeable to Dr. Doddridge’s translation of Heb. xiii. 5.” The hymn writer and Bible commentator Philip Doddridge had rendered Hebrews 13:5 with a deliberately emphatic repetition: “I will not, I will not leave thee, I will never, never, never forsake thee.” That is where the famous closing line comes from: not padding for the meter, but a promise said three times.

Who Was “K”?

Rippon explained his initials in the preface. Hymns marked with a single letter, he wrote, were “many of them composed by a person unknown, or else have undergone some considerable alterations.” So the letter may hide a writer, or it may hide Rippon’s own editing. The main candidates are these:

**Robert Keene.** A member of Carter Lane from 1776 to 1793 and Rippon’s precentor, he also helped produce Rippon’s tune book. Thomas Walker, who compiled that tune book, later assisted Alexander Fletcher with an 1822 hymn collection that credits the hymn to “Keen” in its index. In 1886 the American H. L. Hastings went to London to investigate and spoke with Charles Gordelier, who had led the singing in Rippon’s church decades earlier. Gordelier confirmed the church’s tradition that Keene was the author.

**George Keith.** Daniel Sedgwick, a London bookseller who checked authorship for Charles Spurgeon’s Our Own Hymn Book, changed his attribution several times and settled on “George Keith, 1787” from the sixth edition (1873).

**Kirkham and others.** Other printings used “Kn,” “Keen” or “Kirkham,” which shows how unsure the editors themselves were.

**John Rippon.** He did not write it from scratch as far as anyone knows, but he edited hymns freely, so the text we sing may be partly his.

There is a fair argument against Keene. Discipleship Ministries points out that several tunes in Rippon’s tune book are credited to “R. Keene” by name, so it is odd that a text by him would get only an initial. Our reading of the evidence is that Keene is the best-supported name, and hymnals that print “Rippon’s Selection, 1787” or “attributed to Robert Keene” are being honest about it.

The Scripture Behind Each Stanza

What makes this hymn unusual is the speaker. In the 1787 printing, everything after the opening lines is set in quotation marks: God is talking. Most hymns are us speaking to God or to each other. Here the congregation sings God’s promises back to itself. The hymnologist Albert Edward Bailey called it “a sermon in verse.”

Each stanza has a clear source:

**Stanza 1** (“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word”): the foundation is God’s word and Christ himself, as in 1 Corinthians 3:11 and Ephesians 2:20.

**Stanza 2** (“In every condition, in sickness, in health”): it ends with Moses’s blessing on Asher in Deuteronomy 33:25, “as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

**Stanza 3** (“Fear not, I am with thee”): almost word for word Isaiah 41:10.

**Stanzas 4 and 5** (deep waters and fiery trials): Isaiah 43:2, with “my grace, all-sufficient” from 2 Corinthians 12:9 and the refining of gold from 1 Peter 1:7.

**Stanza 6** (“Even down to old age”): Isaiah 46:4, with the lambs carried in his bosom from Isaiah 40:11. “Hoary hairs” simply means grey hair.

**Stanza 7** (“I’ll never, no never, no never forsake”): Hebrews 13:5, which itself echoes Deuteronomy 31:6–8 and Joshua 1:5.

Some later editions of Rippon’s book added an eighth stanza in which the singer answers God, but it was never widely adopted. Modern hymnals usually print four or five of the original seven. The United Methodist Hymnal (No. 529), for example, has five.

The Tunes: FOUNDATION and ADESTE FIDELES

Because the meter is regular, the text fits several melodies, and different traditions chose different ones.

**In England,** Rippon’s tune book of 1792 recommended a tune called BROUGHTON, and the 1793 edition of the Selection added GEARD as a second option.

**In America,** the tune that won was FOUNDATION, also called PROTECTION. It first appeared with this text in Joseph Funk’s A Compilation of Genuine Church Music (1832), a shape-note tunebook from Virginia. The composer is unknown; the hymnologist Harry Eskew concluded it was a new tune rather than a reprint. It spread through The Sacred Harp (1844) and Southern Harmony (1854), and the harmonised version in most Baptist and Methodist hymnals today came through R. M. McIntosh’s Tabor (1866).

**ADESTE FIDELES,** the melody of “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” was the common pairing in earlier American hymnals and still appears in some hymnals today.

For a congregation new to the hymn, FOUNDATION is the easier choice: a sturdy folk tune that works on piano, organ or a single guitar.

How It Spread

The hymn crossed denominations early. In 1835 it was included in the first hymnbook of the Latter-day Saint movement, the collection Emma Smith was asked to prepare, and it has appeared in every edition of that church’s official hymnal since.

In the United States it was sung in both the North and the South before the Civil War. It was a favourite of Robert E. Lee and was sung at his funeral. Discipleship Ministries, drawing on hymnologist William Reynolds, adds that Andrew Jackson asked for it at his deathbed and that it was a favourite of Theodore Roosevelt. Hymn-story collections also tell how American units from the North and the South sang it together in camp at Christmas 1898, during the Spanish–American War.

It even reached the concert hall. Virgil Thomson used the tune in his Symphony on a Hymn Tune and in his score for the 1938 documentary The River.

Using “How Firm a Foundation” in Worship Today

Read the promise before you sing it. A short reading of Isaiah 43:1–3 before the hymn helps people hear stanzas 4 and 5 as God’s words, not just poetic weather.

Choose stanzas for the moment. For a funeral or a service for older members, keep stanza 6 on old age and the closing stanza 7. For a service about hard seasons, stanzas 3 to 5 carry the weight. Our guides to Christian music for funerals and music for grief and loss have more pairing ideas.

Place it after the sermon. Because God is the speaker, it works best as a response, sealing a message on suffering or faithfulness. Then follow it with a song addressed to God, so the set moves from promise to answer. See our guide to building a worship set that flows.

Keep the old words and explain one. “Thee” and “thou” are not a barrier if someone explains “hoary hairs” in one sentence. Plain explanation usually serves people better than an edited text. We make the wider case in why the old hymns still matter.

Lead it simply. FOUNDATION needs no band arrangement. If you lead from guitar, a basic chord chart is enough; our beginner’s guide to worship chords covers the shapes you need.

Is “How Firm a Foundation” in the Public Domain?

Yes, in its original form. The text was published in 1787 and the FOUNDATION tune in 1832, so both are far past the US cut-off, which in 2026 covers works first published in 1930 or earlier. The same logic is explained in our guide to which Christmas carols are public domain.

That does not cover everything that carries the title. Modern arrangements, new choruses added to the old text, translations and specific recordings can still be under copyright. Check the credits on any arrangement, chord chart or backing track you use; our worship song credit and licensing checklist walks through the questions. This is general information, not legal advice.

Why It Still Matters

Plenty of comfort songs tell people how to feel. This one hands the congregation a list of promises, each with a chapter and verse behind it. Like the story behind “In the Garden,” its history makes the singing richer. Whoever “K” was, the hymn has done what its heading promised for more than two centuries: it points people to “exceeding great and precious promises.”

FAQ

Who wrote “How Firm a Foundation”?

Nobody knows for certain. It was published anonymously in John Rippon’s 1787 Selection and marked only “K—”. Robert Keene, the precentor at Rippon’s London church, is the most likely author, and George Keith and Kirkham have also been suggested.

What Bible verses is “How Firm a Foundation” based on?

The heading cites 2 Peter 1:4. The stanzas draw mainly on Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 43:2, Isaiah 46:4, Deuteronomy 33:25, 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Hebrews 13:5.

What tune is “How Firm a Foundation” sung to?

In most American hymnals it is FOUNDATION (also called PROTECTION), first printed in 1832. Some hymnals use ADESTE FIDELES, the tune of “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

How many verses does “How Firm a Foundation” have?

The original 1787 text has seven stanzas. Most modern hymnals print four or five.