Here are the lyrics to Sovereign Grace Music’s adaptation of Isaac Watts’ beautiful 1707 hymn:
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
Original words by Isaac Watts (1707)
and did my Sovereign die!
Would he devote that sacred head
for sinners such as I?
Was it for crimes that I have done,
he groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide,
and shut its glories in,
when God, the mighty maker, died
for his own creature’s sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face
while his dear cross appears;
dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
and melt mine eyes to tears.
But drops of tears can ne’er repay
the debt of love I owe.
Here, Lord, I give myself away;
’tis all that I can do.
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die!
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Arrangement by Bob Kauflin (2016)1
Most commonly the hymn is sung to the Hudson melody (1885), but there is something at once very beautiful and quite chilling about the traditional Irish tune that Sovereign Grace have chosen for these ancient lyrics:
Musically, I’m struck by the tune’s reflection of the shape of the verses. Watts’ verses begin with lament and end with hope, and this is reflected in the tonality as we move from a minor to major key throughout each verse. But more generally, as I learned, the tune actually has the original name of ‘Foggy Dew’, and was at first the tune to a traditional song chronicling the events of the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916.
Perhaps it’s a tenuous link, and I’m unsure if Sovereign Grace actually intended this, but it’s interesting nonetheless that both settings of ‘Foggy Dew’ confront death and lament in great detail. By being set to this particular tune, Watts’ 1707 hymn, depicting the suffering Christ, is underlined by the lamenting echo of war, pain, and the darkness of the human heart.
I find this profoundly moving because, of course, it is for this very reason that Christ willingly bled. It was for our brokenness that He died – to deal with the darkness of the human heart. The death of God Himself, who lived a perfect life, dealt with the human condition so completely by rising again in glorious life that one day every tear will be wiped away, and all pain and war will cease. John tells us this in a vision in Revelation 21:
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
As we lament our dark world, torn by war or the threat of war, we too have this great hope as an anchor for our souls. Our sin is great and our hearts are dark, but Christ has taken it upon himself in his great mercy, paying the debt of love that we owe, and promising a day when everything broken will be made new.
On reflection of this beautiful hymn and the truth buried within it, may we ‘give ourselves away’ to the risen Saviour today, who even in our broken state, lavished upon us
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
- Public Domain (adm. by Integrity Music). From Together for the Gospel Live III. Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Churches. All rights reserved. ↩︎
eilidh best 