Our Hymnbook

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

John Newton, 1779; Added words by Chris Tomlin

Verse 1

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see

Verse 2

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

Chorus

My chains are gone, I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns

Unending love, amazing grace

Verse 3

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come:

'tis grace has brought me safe thus fa

and grace will lead me home.

Verse 4

The Lord has promised good to me

His word my hope secures

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures

Verse 5

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow

The sun forbear to shine

But God who called me here below

Will be forever mine

You are forever mine

For musicians

Open the Chords view to see the chords over the words, move the song into any key, and download the chart. Written in G, capo 5.

Download chord chart

Behind the hymn

"Amazing Grace" was written by John Newton in 1772 and has become arguably the most famous hymn in the English language. Newton had been a profane and rebellious sailor who became captain of a slave-trading ship before a violent storm at sea in 1748 prompted his conversion. After leaving the slave trade, he studied for the ministry and became an Anglican priest in the village of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he wrote this hymn for a New Year's Day sermon in 1773. The deeply autobiographical text — "that saved a wretch like me" — reflects Newton's profound sense of his own sinfulness and God's unmerited mercy. Newton later became a leading voice in the abolitionist movement, mentoring William Wilberforce in his campaign to end the British slave trade. In 2006, Chris Tomlin added the bridge "My chains are gone, I've been set free" to the classic hymn, giving it new life for a generation of contemporary worshippers while honoring Newton's powerful testimony of liberation from both spiritual and literal chains.

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