1. Now let our lips with holy fear
And mournful pleasure sing
The sufferings of our great high priest,
The sorrows of our king;
He sinks in floods of deep distress,
How high the waters rise!
While to His heavenly Father’s ear
He sends perpetual cries.
2. “Hear me, O Lord, and save Thy Son,
Nor hide Thy shining face;
Why should Thy favorite look like one
Forsaken of Thy grace?
With rage they persecute the man
That groans beneath Thy wound,
While for a sacrifice I pour
My life upon the ground.
3. “They tread my honor to the dust,
And laugh when I complain;
Their sharp insulting slanders add
Fresh anguish to my pain.
All my reproach is known to Thee,
The scandal and the shame;
Reproach has broke my bleeding heart,
And lies defiled my name.
4. “I looked for pity, but in vain;
My kindred are my grief:
I ask my friends for comfort round,
But meet with no relief.
With vinegar they mock my thirst,
They give me gall for food;
And sporting with my dying groans,
They triumph in my blood.
5. Shine into my distressèd soul,
Let Thy compassion save;
And though my flesh sink down to death,
Redeem it from the grave.
I shall arise to praise Thy name,
Shall reign in worlds unknown;
And Thy salvation, O my God,
Shall seat me on Thy throne.