Scripture Verse

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Isaiah 53:7

Introduction

portrait
Paul Gerhardt
(1607–1676)

Words: Paul Ger­hardt, in Prax­is Pi­e­ta­tis Me­li­ca, third ed­i­tion, by Jo­hann Crü­ger, 1648 (Ein Lämm­lein Geht). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ar­thur T. Rus­sell, Psalms and Hymns (Cam­bridge, Eng­land: John Deigh­ton, 1851), num­ber 93.

Music: An Was­ser­flüs­sen Ba­by­lon, gen­er­al­ly at­trib­ut­ed to Wolf­gang Dach­stein, in Teutsch Kirch­en­ampt mit lo­big­sen­gen (Strass­burg, Ger­ma­ny: 1525) (🔊 pdf nwc).

illustration
Flagellation
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)

Lyrics

A Lamb goes forth: the sins He bears
Of every generation:
Himself with patience He prepares
To die for every nation.
All faint and weak, behold! He goes
His life resigning to His foes:
No thought His brief can measure.
He yields to scorn, reproach, disdain,
Wounds, anguish, cross, and dying pain,
And saith, It is my pleasure.

This Lamb my greatest friend I own;
He is my soul’s redemption:
Sin to destroy is His alone,
And give from wrath exemption.
In sighs His Spirit melts away,
His blood, my life in heavenly day,
In purple streams is flowing.
O Lamb beloved! how shall I Thee
Requite for all, thus unto me
Such wondrous goodness showing!