O DARKEST WOE

“There was darkness over all the land.” Matthew 27:45

Hymns Supplied Through the Gracious Generosity
of the Cyber Hymnal Website

Information about Cyber Hymnal Website
Johann Rist (1607-1667) Words: Verse 1 from the Roman Catholic Würzburg Gesangbuch, 1628; verses 2-4, Johann Rist, Himlische Lieder (Lüneburg, Germany: 1641) (O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid). Translated from German to English by Catherine Winkworth, Chorale Book for England, 1863. Rist wrote:

The first verse of this funeral hymn, along with its devotional melody, came accidentally into my hands. As I was greatly pleased with it, I added the other seven as they stand, since I could not be a party to the use of the other verses.

Music: “O Traurigkeit,” composer unknown (Mainz, Germany: 1628)


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Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878)

O darkest woe! Ye tears, forth flow!
Has earth so sad a wonder?
God the Father’s only Son
Now lies buried yonder.

O sinful man, it was the ban
Of death on thee that brought Him
Down to suffer for thy sins,
And such woe hath wrought Him.

Behold thy Lord, the Lamb of God
Blood sprinkled lies before thee,
Pouring out His life that He
May to life restore thee.

O Jesus blest, my Help and Rest!
With tears I pray, Lord hear me,
Make me love Thee to the last,
And in death be near me.