Scripture Verse

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

Introduction

portrait
Ralph Hudson (1843–1901)

Words: Is­aac Watts, cir­ca 1688, alt. In a leng­thy di­scus­sion with his fa­ther, Watts ar­gued that sing­ing on­ly the Psalms made them miss much im­por­tant New Tes­ta­ment truth. Once his con­gre­ga­tion was con­vinced of what he was say­ing, Is­aac be­gan turn­ing out a new hymn a week.

But this one is the ve­ry first, mak­ing the words Pre­pare new hon­ors for His name, and songs be­fore un­known es­pe­cial­ly mean­ing­ful. This hymn al­so re­veals Watts’ am­az­ing breadth of Bib­li­cal know­ledge (he was on­ly a teen­ag­er at the time); there are al­lu­sions to ma­ny Scrip­ture pas­sag­es.

Music: Mar­tyr­dom Hugh Wil­son, 1800. Ar­ranged by Ralph E. Hud­son, cir­ca 1885 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

portrait
Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

Lyrics

Behold the glo­ries of the Lamb
Amidst His Fa­ther’s throne.
Prepare new hon­ors for His name,
And songs be­fore un­known.

Let el­ders wor­ship at His feet,
The Church ad­ore around,
With vi­als full of od­ors sweet,
And harps of sweet­er sound.

Those are the pray­ers of the saints,
And these the hymns they raise;
Jesus is kind to our com­plaints,
He loves to hear our praise.

Eternal Fa­ther, who shall look
Into Thy sec­ret will?
Who but the Son should take that book
And op­en ev­ery seal?

He shall ful­fill Thy great de­crees,
The Son de­serves it well;
Lo, in His hand the so­ver­eign keys
Of Heav­en, death, and hell!

Now to the Lamb that once as slain
Be end­less bless­ings paid;
Salvation, glo­ry, joy re­main
Forever on Thy head.

Thou hast re­deemed our souls with blood,
Hast set the pri­son­er free;
Hast made us kings and priests to God,
And we shall reign with Thee.

The worlds of na­ture and of grace
Are put be­neath Thy pow­er;
Then short­en these de­lay­ing days,
And bring the pro­mised hour.