O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

1. O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory
What bliss ’til now was Thine
Yet though despised and gory
I joy to call Thee mine

2. What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,
Was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe me to Thy grace.

3. The joy can never be spoken,
Above all joys beside,
When in Thy body broken
I thus with safety hide.
My Lord of Life, desiring
Thy glory now to see,
Beside Thy cross expiring,
I’d breathe my soul to Thee.

4. What language shall I borrow
To praise Thee, heavenly friend,
For this my dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
Lord make me Thine forever,
Nor let me faithless prove
Oh let me never, never
Abuse such dying love

5. Forbid that I should leave Thee
O Jesus leave not me!
By faith I would receive Thee
Thy blood can make me free
When strength and comfort languish
And I must hence depart
Release me then from anguish
By Thine own wounded heart

6. Be near when I am dying
Oh show Thy cross to me
And for my succor flying
Come Lord and set me free
These eyes new faith receiving
From Jesus shall not move
For he who dies believing
Dies safely, through Thy love

Words: Bernard of Clairvaux
Translated: James W. Alexander
Music: Johann Walther
Adapted: Hans Hassler
Public Domain

Posted by TulipGirl | 03:37 PM| TrackBack (0) | Words

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.tulipgirl.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/376

Comments

This has been my favorite hymn for a long time; the music is as beautiful as the words. Some of the stanzas were new to me; thanks for posting this today.
Posted by: FLGrandma at October 25, 2004 05:10 PM

*grin*

We sang it this weekend, so it's been in my mind.
Posted by: TulipGirl at October 25, 2004 05:42 PM

One of my favorites.
Posted by: Carol at October 25, 2004 05:59 PM

Oh, yes, one of my all-time favorites. And if you have the red Trinity hymnal, one of my new favorites (discovered when we bought four Trinitis for family worship four years ago) is the one right next door to it, "Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended?"

I love those German Reformation-era composers!

(Our hymnal notes that Hans Hassler was the composer and Bach arranged it [for his St. Matthew's Passion]. I wonder why the difference in info on the composers?)
Posted by: Kelly at October 25, 2004 09:18 PM

Yep, we have the red Trinity hymnal. *grin* Though, my eye for music is lousy, so I usually use the OPC old Trinity hymnal online to get the tunes right.
Posted by: TulipGirl at October 26, 2004 06:58 AM

i love this song--gorgeous harmonies!
Posted by: Dana at October 29, 2004 02:42 PM

RSS RSS2 Atom

Creative Commons License

In My Garden