Behold the Lamb of God

Behold the Lamb of God! O Thou for sinners slain

Author: Matthew Bridges (1848)
Published in 99 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 Behold the Lamb of God!
O thou for sinners slain,
let it not be in vain
that thou hast died:
thee for my Saviour let me take,
my only refuge let me make
thy piercèd side.

2 Behold the Lamb of God!
All hail, incarnate word,
thou everlasting Lord,
Saviour most blest!
Fill us with love that never faints,
grant us with all thy blessèd saints
eternal rest.

3 Behold the Lamb of God!
Worthy is he alone
to sit upon the throne
of God above;
one with the Ancient of all Days,
one with the Comforter in praise,
all Light and Love.

Source: CPWI Hymnal #150

Author: Matthew Bridges

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Text Information

First Line: Behold the Lamb of God! O Thou for sinners slain
Title: Behold the Lamb of God
Author: Matthew Bridges (1848)
Meter: 6.6.6.4.8.8.4
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Behold the Lamb [of God.] M. Bridges. [Passiontide.] First published in his Hymns of the Heart, &c, 1848, in 7 stanzas of 7 lines, and entitled "Ecce Agnus Dei." It is found in many modern collections both in Great Britain and in America, but never in a full and correct form. Scarcely two texts can be found alike, whether they begin with the original first line, or as—" Behold the Lamb of God/' as in Hymns Ancient & Modern, Thring, and others….
A comparison of this text with that in any collection will show how far alterations may have been introduced. In addition to being altered, it is usually abbreviated as well. In some American collections, including Dr. Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, 1872, No. 500, a hymn is given as—"Archangels! fold your wings," and attributed to "Samuel Egerton Brydges, 1820, a," which is really a portion of this hymn rewritten, beginning with line 2 of stanza iii.

--Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Media

The Book of Common Praise: being the hymn book of The Church of England in Canada (revised 1938) #518b
The Cyber Hymnal #446
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 6 of 6)
TextPage Scan

Christian Worship (1993) #101

TextPage Scan

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #235

Audio

Small Church Music #7460

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #446

TextPage Scan

CPWI Hymnal #150

TextPage Scan

Rejoice in the Lord #291

Include 93 pre-1979 instances
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