O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
One of the 94 hymns we sing together at Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church on the Gold Coast. Browse the full hymnbook.
Lyrics
Verse 1
O sacred Head now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown;
How pale Thou art with anguish,
With sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish,
Which once was bright as morn!
Verse 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 Saviour!
‘Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
Verse 3
What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, Dearest Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never,
Never outlive my love to Thee.
Verse 4
My Shepherd, now receive me;
My Guardian, own me Thine.
Great blessings Thou didst give me
O Source of gifts divine.
Thy lips have often fed me
With words of truth and love;
Thy Spirit oft hath led me
To heavenly joys above.
Verse 5
My Saviour, be Thou near me
When death is at my door;
Then let Thy presence cheer me,
Forsake me nevermore!
When soul and body languish,
Oh, leave me not alone,
But take away mine anguish
By virtue of Thine own.
Behind the Hymn
"O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" is one of the most ancient and revered Passion hymns in Christianity, with roots stretching back to the twelfth century. The Latin poem "Salve Mundi Salutare" is traditionally attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153), the great Cistercian monk and theologian, though some scholars believe it may have been written by his follower Arnulf of Leuven. The original poem was a seven-part meditation on the wounded body of Christ on the cross, with each section addressing a different part of His body — the final and most famous section is addressed to His sacred head. Paul Gerhardt translated the poem into German in 1656 as "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden," and Johann Sebastian Bach immortalized it by using the chorale melody five times in his masterwork, the St. Matthew Passion (1727). The English translation most commonly sung today is by James Waddell Alexander from 1830. The hymn's intimate, first-person address to the suffering Christ — "What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners' gain; mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain" — has made it the quintessential Good Friday hymn for nearly nine centuries.