Lyrics: Thomas Kelly, Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture, 1804.
Music: WO IST JESUS, MEIN VERLANGEN, German hymn tune.
Theme: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See him dying on the tree!
This is Christ, by man rejected;
Here, my soul, your Savior see.
He’s the long expected prophet,
David’s son, yet David’s Lord.
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
He’s the true and faithful Word.
Tell me, all who hear him groaning,
Was there ever grief like this?
Friends through fear his cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress;
Many hands were raised to wound him,
None would intervene to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced him
Was the stroke that justice gave.
You who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed;
See who bears the awful load;
It’s the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man and son of God.
Here we have a firm foundation;
Here the refuge of the lost;
Christ, the rock of our salvation,
His the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on him their hope have built.
The lyrics here have been modernized somewhat, but not so much as to lose the meaning. (Original lyrics at NetHymnal) I don’t know how to embed it, but you can listen to a beautiful version of this hymn by Fernando Ortega here.
I had never heard of this hymn, but as I was looking it up I did find another hymn by Thomas Kelly, an Irish preacher and hymn writer, that we sing at our church all the time: Look Ye Saints, the Sight Is Glorious (didn’t make the top 101 list). I rather think I like both of the two of Mr. Kelly’s hymns that I’m now acquainted with. I’ll play Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted for the urchins today, and we’ll make a stab at singing it. Thanks to Sarah, among others, for introducing me to this beautiful and meaningful hymn.
By the way we’re starting with #101 because numbers 99-101 on my compilation of votes were tied for points. Tomorrow, number 100 on the list! Hint: Tomorrow’s hymn was sung at the funeral of former British prime minister Winston Churchill in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, 1965.
Shoot! I made my list, and was going to refine it and send it to you yesterday, but I missed out.
Thanks for sharing the FO link, Sherry. That was beautiful.
I thought about participating in your poll, but I couldn’t separate in my mind the hymns I know and love from the other types of songs, etc. We use mainly contemporary music for our church worship, and I’m afraid I might be forgetting some of the older songs we sang growing up. Anyway, I think this will be a great series!
I had not heard this one before either but it’s gorgeous. Thank you for posting and sharing it!
This is off topic, but I wanted to let you know that I finished my review of The Underneath—>http://hopeistheword.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/book-review-the-underneath-by-kathi-appelt/
Making a top ten hymns list is hard. After I sent mine in, I thought of a couple I should have considered over those on the list. It’s hard to say one great hymn makes the cut and another does not.
Thanks for posting about this hymn. I am not familiar with this one.
Fernando Ortega is amazing. I love listening to his music.
What beautiful words! I’m going to listen to Fernando sing it. I look forward to checking out the rest of the top 100!
A beautiful hymn! Thanks for the chance to learn about some hymns we might not have heard otherwise! I’m off to hear FO sing this.
Oh – this is one of my favorites too. “You who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great.” (blowing air out) Wow.
Great hymn and I’d never seen it before! (It doesn’t occur even once in my complete index of 35 (plus portions of dozens of other) hymnals. And the tune is new to me, too. Ortega’s recording is beautiful.
Leland aka Haruo
Finally found it in a print hymnal, albeit to a different tune called JAMES: it’s #259 in “Hymns of Truth and Praise”, Gospel Perpetuating Publishers, 1971. (An obscure hymnal which has a number of other obscure but good pieces in it, including Fanny Crosby’s “Victory through Grace”, which begins “Conquering now and still to conquer…”)