Christ the Life of all the living,
Christ the Death of death our foe,
Who Thyself for us once giving
To the darkest depths of woe,
Patiently didst yield Thy breath
But to save my soul from death;
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Blessed Jesus, brought to Thee.

Thou, ah Thou, hast taken on Thee
Bitter strokes, a cruel rod,
Pain and scorn were heap'd upon Thee
O Thou sinless Son of God,
Only thus for me to win
Rescue from the bonds of sin;
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Blessed Jesus, brought to Thee.

Thou didst bear the smiting only
That it might not fall on me;
Stoodest falsely charged and lonely,
That I might be safe and free;
Comfortless that I might know
Comfort from Thy boundless woe;
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Blessed Jesus, brought to Thee.

That Thou wast so meek and stainless
Doth atone for my proud mood;
And Thy death makes dying painless,
All Thy ills have wrought our good;
Yea, the shame Thou didst endure
Is my honour and my cure;
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Blessed Jesus, brought to Thee.

Then for all that wrought our pardon,
For Thy sorrows deep and sore,
For Thine anguish in the garden,
I will thank Thee evermore;
Thank Thee with my latest breath
For Thy sad and cruel death,
For that last most bitter cry,
And shall praise Thee, Lord, on high.

The Chorale Book for England, 1863

Ernst C. Homburg (b. Mihla, near Eisenach, Germany, 1605; d. Naumberg, Germany, 1681) wrote this German chorale text (“Jesu, meines Lebens Leben”), which was published in Part One of his Geistliche Lieder (1658). Homburg, who wrote most of his hymns for his own devotions, described his eight-stanza text as a "hymn of thanksgiving to his Redeemer and Savior for his bitter sufferings." In early life Homburg was a writer of love and drinking songs. After a difficult time of family illness he experienced a religious conversion, and his poetry took a more serious turn. A lawyer by profession, he wrote hymns to express and strengthen his own faith rather than for public use. Some 150 of his hymn texts were published in his Geistliche Lieder.

The translation of selected stanzas is by Catherine Winkworth (PHH 194), who published them in her Chorale Book for England (1863).

The text is a meditation on the suffering and death of Christ, which brought eternal life to believers (st. 1), provided full atonement for our sin (st. 2), and mortified our "old nature" (st. 3). The tone of unending gratitude to God reflected in the refrain line–"thousand, thousand thanks are due"–runs throughout the entire text.

Liturgical Use:
Lent, especially Holy Week; any worship service with a thanksgiving focus.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook