O Sacred Head, Now Wounded is a Passion hymn sung in Lent, Holy Week and especially on Good Friday. It began as a medieval Latin poem addressed to the wounded parts of Christ's body, was turned into German by Paul Gerhardt in 1656 and into English by the American Presbyterian James W. Alexander in 1830 and 1849. It looks at Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and confesses, Mine, mine, was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain. That is the heart of Isaiah 53:5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities".
Few hymns have travelled as far as this one. Its roots are in a long Latin poem from the Middle Ages, once credited to Bernard of Clairvaux and now usually to Arnulf of Leuven, which meditates in turn on Christ's feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and face. In 1656 the Lutheran pastor Paul Gerhardt turned the section on the face into the German hymn O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden. Johann Sebastian Bach used its melody, the Passion Chorale, five times in his St. Matthew Passion. Then in 1830 James Waddell Alexander, a Presbyterian minister in New Jersey and later New York, translated it into English, revising it for the church historian Philip Schaff in 1849. So a Catholic poem became a Lutheran hymn and then a Reformed one, all saying the same thing about the cross. It is the classic hymn for Good Friday, which falls on March 26 in 2027. Below are six of Alexander's ten stanzas and 12 KJV passages behind them.
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded: the words
Verse 1
O sacred Head! now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thy only crown;
O sacred Head! what glory,
What bliss, till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine.
Verse 2
O noblest brow, and dearest!
In other days the world
All feared when Thou appearedst:
What shame on Thee is hurled!
How art Thou pale with anguish,
With sore abuse and scorn:
How does that visage languish,
Which once was bright as morn!
Verse 4
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,
Was all for sinners' gain:
Mine, mine, was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.
Lo! here I fall, my Saviour:
'Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
Verse 8
What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end!
O make me Thine for ever:
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to Thee.
Verse 9
And when I am departing,
O part not Thou from me!
When mortal pangs are darting,
Come, Lord, and set me free!
And when my heart must languish
Amidst the final throe,
Release me from mine anguish
By Thine own pain and woe!
Verse 10
Be near me when I'm dying,
Oh! show Thy cross to me;
And for my succor flying,
Come, Lord, and set me free!
These eyes new faith receiving
From Jesus shall not move;
For he, who dies believing,
Dies safely through Thy love.
Words: Paul Gerhardt, O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (1656), based on the medieval Latin poem Salve caput cruentatum; English by James Waddell Alexander (1830, revised for Schaff's Kirchenfreund, 1849). Text copied from Philip Schaff, Christ in Song (New York, 1869), pp. 178-181 (Internet Archive scan), which prints Alexander's full ten stanzas; six are shown here, numbered as in that printing (most hymnals sing 1, 2, 4 and 8). Tune: Passion Chorale, Hans Leo Hassler (1601), harmonized by J. S. Bach. Public domain.
O sacred Head, now wounded: the crown of thorns
1. Matthew 27:29
"And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!"
With thorns, Thy only crown. The soldiers in Pilate's headquarters turned Jesus's claim to be a king into a cruel game. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! The crown was meant as a joke and a torture. Yet the hymn sees the irony Matthew wants us to see: the mockers spoke the truth. He was the King, and the thorns, a sign of the curse on the ground in Genesis 3:18, were the only crown He would accept on earth.
2. John 19:5
"Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!"
Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! Pilate brought Jesus out after the scourging, perhaps hoping the crowd would pity Him and be satisfied. Christian art has called this scene Ecce Homo, Latin for Behold the man. The hymn does what Pilate told the crowd to do: it beholds Him. It looks at the head, the brow, the pale face, and refuses to look away. Lent is a season for exactly this kind of looking, slowly and honestly, at what the cross cost.
3. Isaiah 53:3
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine. Seven centuries before the crucifixion Isaiah described the Servant of the LORD: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him. Alexander's word despised comes straight from this verse. The world turned its face away from Jesus, but the hymn writer turns toward Him and claims Him as his own. That is faith: to see the despised one and say, He is mine. For a full study of the chapter, see our page on Isaiah 53.
4. Isaiah 50:6
"I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting."
O noblest brow, and dearest! ... What shame on Thee is hurled! The second stanza contrasts the face that all the world once feared with the face now covered in abuse. Isaiah's third Servant Song foresaw it: I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. The verse says gave. Jesus was not overpowered; He offered Himself. The Gospels record that the guards spat on Him and struck Him in the face (Matthew 26:67). The hymn's sorrow is real, but it is sorrow for a willing sacrifice.
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain
5. Isaiah 53:5
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Philip Schaff's note on this hymn quotes this verse, and it is the key to the whole poem. The repeated our and we are the point: the wounds were His, the sins were ours. The punishment that would bring us peace fell on Him. Alexander turns the verse into a confession in the first person: Mine, mine, was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain. Sing that line slowly on Good Friday and it says the whole gospel.
6. Isaiah 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. The verse begins with all and ends with all. Everyone has wandered; everyone's guilt was laid on one person. The hymn's line 'Tis I deserve Thy place is the personal response. It is not only the soldiers, Pilate or the crowd who put Jesus on the cross. The singer recognizes that he belongs there. Lo! here I fall, my Saviour: the right response to the cross is to fall before it and ask for grace.
7. 1 Peter 2:24
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
Peter, who had denied Jesus and then watched Him die, wrote: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. He echoes Isaiah 53 and makes it practical. Christ bore our sins so that we might die to them and live a new kind of life. The hymn's third stanza asks for that: Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace. Vouchsafe means graciously grant. Grace is not only pardon for the past but power for the life Peter describes.
8. Galatians 2:20
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Paul makes the cross as personal as the hymn does: the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Me, not only the world. Alexander's hymn is written in the first person throughout, I joy to call Thee mine, 'Tis I deserve Thy place, the dying sorrow for which I thank Thee. Good Friday is not only a day to remember a historical event. It is a day to say, with Paul, that I am crucified with Christ and that the life I now live, I live by faith in Him.
Lord, let me never outlive my love to Thee
9. Luke 23:42-43
"And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest Friend? One of the criminals crucified beside Jesus found the words: Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus answered, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. The thief had nothing to offer but faith and a plea. The hymn's eighth stanza ends with a similar plea, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee. Both prayers ask Jesus to hold on to us. Both are answered by the same promise of His presence.
10. Psalms 73:26
"My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."
And should I fainting be. The psalmist knew that feeling: My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Alexander's hymn does not pretend that love for Christ will always feel strong. The singer admits he may grow faint and asks the Lord to keep him. This is honest Lenten prayer. Our devotion rises and falls, but God is the strength of our heart when ours gives out. He is also our portion, the share of the inheritance that cannot be taken away.
11. Psalms 23:4
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
Be near me when I'm dying, oh! show Thy cross to me. Schaff singled out this last stanza as worthy to be the final prayer of a dying Christian. It is the hymn's version of the shepherd psalm: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. The singer asks for one thing at the end: to see the cross. Because Christ has gone through death for us, He can go through it with us. Many Christians have asked for this hymn to be read or sung at their bedside.
12. Romans 8:38-39
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
For he, who dies believing, dies safely through Thy love. Paul's great confidence is the same: neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Death is listed first, and it cannot cut us off from Christ's love. The hymn begins with the wounded head of the Saviour and ends with a believer resting safely in His love. That is the journey of Holy Week, from Good Friday's sorrow to Easter's certainty.
A short prayer
Lord Jesus, I look at You crowned with thorns, despised and wounded, and I confess that the transgression was mine and the deadly pain was Yours. Thank You for giving Your back to the smiters and Your face to shame for me. I have no words big enough to thank You; make me Yours for ever. When I grow faint, keep my love for You alive, and when I come to die, be near me, show me Your cross and bring me safely home through Your love. Amen.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote O Sacred Head, Now Wounded?
The hymn grew in three stages: a medieval Latin poem, Salve caput cruentatum, traditionally credited to Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) and now often to Arnulf of Leuven (died 1250); the German version O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden by Paul Gerhardt (1656); and the English translation by James Waddell Alexander (1804-1859), first made in 1830 and revised in 1849.
When is O Sacred Head, Now Wounded sung?
It is sung during Lent and Holy Week, above all on Good Friday, which in 2027 falls on March 26 (Palm Sunday is March 21 and Easter March 28). Many churches sing it at Tenebrae or at a Good Friday service of the seven last words of Jesus. See our Lent hymns list for other hymns for the season.
What tune is O Sacred Head, Now Wounded sung to?
It is sung to the Passion Chorale (Herzlich tut mich verlangen), a melody by Hans Leo Hassler first published in 1601 as a love song and adapted for hymns in 1613. Johann Sebastian Bach harmonized it several times in his St. Matthew Passion (1727), and those harmonizations are the ones most hymnals use today. Paul Simon borrowed the tune for American Tune (1973).
What Bible verse is O Sacred Head, Now Wounded based on?
The hymn meditates on the crown of thorns described in Matthew 27:29 and John 19:2-5, and on Isaiah 53, especially verse 5, He was wounded for our transgressions. Philip Schaff quoted that verse when he introduced Alexander's translation in 1869. Its closing stanzas echo Psalm 23:4 and Romans 8:38-39.
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: Lent Hymns · When I Survey the Wondrous Cross · The Old Rugged Cross · Were You There · Isaiah 53 Meaning · Holy Week Timeline · Good Friday · The Cross · All Glory, Laud and Honor (lyrics)
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