Come, Ye Disconsolate: Thomas Moore's Hymn of Comfort, All Three Verses and the KJV Scriptures for Those Who Grieve

Disconsolate means without comfort, so sad that nothing seems to help. The hymn speaks directly to people in that state, the grieving, the lonely, the guilty and the lost, and tells them where to go. Thomas Moore, best known for The Last Rose of Summer and his Irish Melodies, published it in his Sacred Songs. Thomas Hastings, a pioneer of American church music who also wrote the tune for Rock of Ages, revised Moore's words for congregational singing and replaced his final verse with one about the bread of life and the river of God. That is the form most hymnals print, including the 1894 Gospel Hymns we copied below. The hymn has been sung at countless funerals and memorial services, and it is often a comfort to people who find it hard to pray. Below are the three verses as printed in 1894, followed by 12 KJV passages of comfort that stand behind its lines.

Come, Ye Disconsolate: the words

Verse 1
Come, ye disconsolate! where'er ye languish,
Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel:
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not heal.

Verse 2
Joy of the desolate! light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not cure.

Verse 3
Here see the bread of life: see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above;
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrows but heaven can remove.

Words: Thomas Moore (1779-1852), Sacred Songs, 1816; revised, with the third verse added, by Thomas Hastings (1784-1872), 1831. Music: Samuel Webbe (1740-1816), the tune called Consolator. Text copied from Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6 Complete (New York and Chicago, 1894), hymn 661, checked against Bradbury's Devotional Hymn and Tune Book (1864), which prints verses 1-2 under Moore's name (Internet Archive scans). The 1894 book spells can not as two words. Public domain.

Come to the mercy-seat: bring your wounded heart

1. Hebrews 4:16

The hymn's invitation, Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel, is the invitation of Hebrews: Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. The throne of God is called a throne of grace, because Jesus, our high priest, has made the way open. Boldly does not mean carelessly. It means with confidence that we will be welcomed. And notice the promise: help in time of need. Grief is a time of need. The person who comes in sorrow does not have to find the right words. He has to come.

2. Exodus 25:22

The mercy-seat was the gold lid of the ark of the covenant, with two cherubim above it. God told Moses, there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat. Once a year the high priest sprinkled blood on it to atone for the people's sins. It was the meeting place between a holy God and sinful people, made possible by sacrifice. The New Testament says Christ is our mercy-seat; the word translated propitiation in Romans 3:25 is the same word. When the hymn says Come to the mercy-seat, it means come to God through Christ.

3. Psalms 62:8

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish. David wrote, Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. To pour out the heart is to hold nothing back: the sorrow, the questions, even the anger. God does not ask grieving people to tidy up their feelings first. He invites them to empty them before Him. The word refuge is a place of safety in a storm. Many people find that they do not feel better at once when they pray, but they are no longer carrying their grief alone.

4. Jeremiah 8:22

Jeremiah, weeping over his people, asked, Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Gilead was famous for a healing ointment. The prophet's question was bitter: the remedy existed, so why were his people not healed? The answer was that they had refused to turn to God. The hymn answers Jeremiah's question with the gospel: there is a Physician, and there is a balm. Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not heal. The African American spiritual There Is a Balm in Gilead gives the same answer, turning the prophet's lament into a song of hope.

Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying

5. John 14:16

The second verse says, Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying. Jesus promised His disciples, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. The Greek word means one called alongside to help. Jesus called Him another Comforter, because Jesus Himself had been their comfort. The disciples were about to lose Jesus' physical presence, and they were full of sorrow. He promised that they would not be left alone. The same Spirit lives with every believer and speaks comfort through God's word.

6. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Paul praises God as the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation. Notice all comfort and all our tribulation. There is no sorrow outside the reach of God's comfort. Then Paul gives one of its purposes: that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. People who have grieved and been comforted by God are often the best comforters of others. The hymn itself is a kind of comfort passed on from people who found God faithful in their sorrow.

7. Isaiah 61:1

Isaiah describes the Messiah's mission: he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. Jesus read this passage in the synagogue at Nazareth and said, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luke 4:21). Bind up is a medical word, like bandaging a wound. The hymn's line Here bring your wounded hearts fits exactly. Christ came for people with broken hearts. He does not stand at a distance from grief and tell people to cheer up. He binds up the wound. His good tidings are for the meek, the captive and the bound, as well as the brokenhearted.

8. Isaiah 53:4

Why can Christ comfort the grieving? Because He has carried grief Himself. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Isaiah's Servant was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus. He felt sorrow unto death in Gethsemane. He bore not only our sins but the weight of our sorrows on the cross. The Joy of the desolate in the hymn is not a stranger to desolation. He has been there, and He has come through it. See our Isaiah 53 meaning.

Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not heal

9. John 6:35

Hastings's third verse says, Here see the bread of life. Jesus said, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Grief often feels like hunger, a deep emptiness that nothing fills. Jesus does not promise that those who come to Him will never feel loss. He promises that the deepest hunger of the soul will be satisfied in Him. Notice the word cometh. The whole hymn is an invitation to come: come to the mercy-seat, come to the feast of love. Jesus is the One we come to.

10. Revelation 22:1

Hastings writes, see waters flowing forth from the throne of God, pure from above. He is quoting John's vision of the new creation: he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. The river flows from the throne, the same throne we come to now as the mercy-seat. God is the source of life and healing. On either side of the river grows the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2). The hymn points grieving people to that river, now and forever.

11. Revelation 21:4

This is the promise behind the hymn's refrain-like last lines. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. Notice that God wipes the tears personally. Notice too that death, sorrow, crying and pain are all named, and all removed. Earth has no sorrows but heaven can remove. The Christian hope does not pretend grief is not real. It promises that grief is not forever. For the former things are passed away. Every tear has an end.

12. Romans 8:18

Paul, who suffered more than most, wrote, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. He does not say the sufferings are small. He says the glory is so great that, set side by side, there is no comparison. This is the long view the hymn invites. Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not heal is not a pat answer for the newly bereaved. It is a hope that grows in the heart over time, as the sorrowing keep coming to the mercy-seat and finding God faithful.

A short prayer

Father of mercies and God of all comfort, I come to Your throne of grace. Here I bring my wounded heart and tell You my anguish. Thank You that Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and that He came to bind up the brokenhearted. Send Your Comforter to abide with me. Feed me with the bread of life, and let me drink from the river that flows from Your throne. Hold me until the day You wipe away all tears. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Go deeper: a SOAP study prompt

Pick one verse above and write: - Scripture: copy the verse by hand. - Observation: what does it say? Who is speaking, to whom? - Application: what does it mean for you today? - Prayer: turn it into a two-line prayer.

New to this method? See our Bible study guide or pick a Bible reading plan.

Download the free funeral program template · Print the free large-print Psalms · Pour out your heart with the 30-Day Prayer Journal

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote Come, Ye Disconsolate?

The Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852) wrote the original words, published in his Sacred Songs in 1816. The American church musician Thomas Hastings (1784-1872) revised them in 1831 and wrote the third verse (Here see the bread of life). The usual tune, Consolator, is by Samuel Webbe.

What does disconsolate mean?

Disconsolate means without consolation: so sad or troubled that nothing seems to comfort. The hymn addresses people in that state and invites them to the mercy-seat, the throne of grace, where God gives comfort (Hebrews 4:16; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Is Come, Ye Disconsolate a funeral hymn?

Yes. It has been sung at funerals and memorial services for nearly two centuries, because it speaks directly to grief and ends each verse with the hope that heaven can heal earth's sorrows. Our free funeral program template has space for hymns like this one.

What is the mercy-seat in Come, Ye Disconsolate?

The mercy-seat was the gold cover of the ark of the covenant, where God met with His people and where the blood of atonement was sprinkled (Exodus 25:22; Leviticus 16:14). Christians see it fulfilled in Christ, through whom we come to God's throne of grace.

If you have thoughts of harming yourself, in the US call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or call 911 in an emergency.

Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.

Related: Abide with Me · It Is Well with My Soul · What a Friend We Have in Jesus · Be Still, My Soul · Rock of Ages · Grief · Comfort and Strength · Broken Heart

Explore more: All Bible verses by topic · KJV Bible verses · Verse of the day · Prayers · Bible study · Bible reading plans