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Man of Sorrows

Philip P. Bliss, 1838–1876

Verse 1

Man of Sorrows, what a Name,

For the Son of God, Who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Verse 2

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Verse 3

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

“Full atonement!” can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Verse 4

Lifted up was He to die;

“It is finished!” was His cry;

Now in Heav’n exalted high.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Verse 5

When He comes, our glorious King,

All His ransomed home to bring,

Then anew His song we’ll sing:

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

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.

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Behind the hymn

"Man of Sorrows" was written by Philip Paul Bliss, one of the great gospel songwriters of the nineteenth century, who drew the title from Isaiah 53:3. Bliss was born in a log cabin in rural Pennsylvania in 1838 and grew up in poverty, first hearing a piano at age ten and being so captivated that he devoted his life to music. He became a traveling music evangelist, partnering with Major Daniel Whittle in revival campaigns across America. His songs — including "It Is Well" (for which he composed the tune), "Wonderful Words of Life," and this hymn — shaped American gospel music for generations. "Man of Sorrows" traces the full arc of Christ's redemptive work: His suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and coming again. Tragically, Bliss and his wife Lucy died on December 29, 1876, when the Pacific Express train plunged through a collapsed bridge into the Ashtabula River gorge in Ohio — he was only 38 years old. A trunk recovered from the wreckage was found to contain manuscripts of hymns he had not yet published.

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