Benedictus. Translations into English of this Song of Zacharias (St. Luke i., 68-79) are given in the various versions of the Holy Scripture, those best known being the Prayer Book version in the Morning Prayer, the A. V. 1611, and the Revised Version of 1881. In addition there are metrical renderings in the form of hymns in the Old Version of Sternhold and Hopkins; the New Version of Tate and Brady, and the following:—
(1) Drayton's Harmony of the Church, 1591; (2) G. Wither's Hymns and Songs of the Church, 1623-31; (3) G. Sandys's Paraphrases on the Psalms, 1636; (4) Simon Ford's Psalms of David, 1688; (5) Bishop Patrick's Psalms of David in Metre, 2nd edition, 1695. [William T. Brooke]
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)