Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me is a hymn by Augustus Toplady, an English clergyman, first printed in full in 1776. It is a prayer of a sinner who brings nothing to God and hides in Christ alone for salvation. The title comes from the margin of the KJV at Isaiah 26:4, where everlasting strength is literally the rock of ages in Hebrew, and from Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock in Exodus 33:22: "I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand".
Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778) was converted as a teenager in Ireland, listening to a lay preacher in a barn, and became an Anglican vicar in the small Devon village of Broadhembury. He was a fierce Calvinist who spent years in bitter print battles with John Wesley, yet the hymn he is remembered for is sung in every kind of church, including Wesley's Methodists. A popular story says Toplady sheltered from a storm in a cleft of the limestone gorge at Burrington Combe in Somerset and wrote the first lines there; a rock is still pointed out to visitors. Historians doubt the story, which first appeared in print over a century later. What is certain is that the full hymn appeared in The Gospel Magazine in March 1776 and in Toplady's hymnbook that summer. He died of tuberculosis two years later, aged thirty-seven. The hymn was a favorite of Prince Albert, who asked for it on his deathbed. Below are Toplady's own 1776 words and the 12 KJV passages behind them. This page is about the hymn, not the musical or the Def Leppard song.
Rock of Ages: the words
Verse 1
Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee!
Let the Water and the Blood,
From Thy riven Side which flow'd,
Be of sin the double cure;
Cleanse me from its guilt and pow'r.
Verse 2
Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfill Thy Law's demands:
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone:
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Verse 3
Nothing in my hand I bring;
Simply to Thy Cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the Fountain fly:
Wash me, Savior, or I die!
Verse 4
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eye-strings break in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment-throne,
Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee!
Words: Augustus Montague Toplady, first printed in full in The Gospel Magazine (London), March 1776. Text copied from Toplady's own Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Worship (London, 1776), hymn 337, A Prayer, Living and Dying (Internet Archive scan), with the long s and spellings such as it's and cleanfe modernized; Toplady's dashes in stanza 4 are shown as commas. Modern hymnals often change line 6 to Save from wrath and make me pure and eye-strings break to eyes shall close. Tunes: Toplady, Thomas Hastings (1830), in the US; Petra (Redhead 76) in Britain. Public domain.
Rock of ages, cleft for me: hiding in the Rock
1. Isaiah 26:4
"Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:"
Rock of ages. The KJV reads: Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. The 1611 translators added a note in the margin that the Hebrew for everlasting strength is literally the rock of ages, tsur olamim. Toplady, who knew his Bible in the original languages, took the title from there. A rock of ages is a rock that has stood for all of time and will stand for all of time to come. Everything else a person might lean on shifts; the LORD does not.
2. Exodus 33:22
"And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:"
Let me hide myself in Thee. When Moses asked to see God's glory, God said no one could see His face and live. Instead, He said: I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. Moses was protected from the full blaze of God's holiness by being hidden in the rock. Toplady's hymn sees Christ as that rock. A sinner cannot stand before a holy God in his own strength. But hidden in Christ, he can be safe in the very presence of the God he fears.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:4
"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."
Cleft for me. Paul tells us who the rock was all along: they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. In the wilderness, Moses struck a rock and water flowed out for the thirsty people (Exodus 17:6). Paul sees Jesus in that rock, struck so that others might live. Cleft means split open. On the cross Christ was struck and split open, His side pierced, so that His people could hide in Him and drink from Him. The hymn's first two words hold the whole gospel.
4. 1 John 5:6
"This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth."
Let the Water and the Blood, from Thy riven Side which flow'd. When the soldier pierced Jesus' side, blood and water came out (John 19:34). John returns to that sight in his letter: This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. Toplady sees in the water and the blood a double cure. One reading, which he followed, is that the blood cleanses from sin's guilt and the water from sin's power. Christ does not only forgive us; He also begins to set us free from the sins that held us.
Not the labors of my hands: Thou must save, and Thou alone
5. Titus 3:5
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"
Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy Law's demands. This is the heart of the hymn, and Paul states it plainly: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Toplady lists the most impressive religious efforts he can imagine: zeal that never rests, tears that never stop. None of it could pay for sin. That is not because effort is bad, but because the debt is too great. Salvation is mercy from first to last, and that is good news for anyone who knows how far short they fall.
6. Galatians 2:16
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Could my zeal no respite know. Paul had been the most zealous religious man of his generation, and he said it did not save him: a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Justified means declared righteous by God the Judge. You cannot earn that verdict by keeping rules, however sincerely. You receive it by trusting Christ, who kept the law perfectly in your place. Toplady and Wesley argued over many things, but on this they agreed, which is one reason both of their churches sing this hymn.
7. Isaiah 64:6
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
Could my tears for ever flow, all for sin could not atone. Isaiah is blunt about the best that human goodness can offer God: all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf. Notice that it says righteousnesses, the good deeds, not only the bad ones. Even our best works are stained by mixed motives. That is why atonement must come from outside us. Thou must save, and Thou alone: the line leaves no room for a partnership between our efforts and Christ's. He does it all.
8. Acts 4:12
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Thou must save, and Thou alone. Peter told the same religious leaders who had condemned Jesus: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. In a world with many religions and many self-help plans, this sounds narrow. But it is also wonderfully wide. Because salvation depends on Christ alone, it does not depend on your record, your family, your education or your strength. Anyone at all can call on the one name that saves.
Nothing in my hand I bring: wash me, Savior, or I die
9. Zechariah 13:1
"In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."
Foul, I to the Fountain fly. Zechariah foresaw a day when there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Christians have long seen that fountain opened at the cross. William Cowper, Toplady's contemporary, wrote There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood from the same verse. Toplady's line is full of urgency: fly, as a bird flees to shelter. Nothing in my hand I bring. You do not clean yourself up before coming to the fountain. You come foul, and it washes you.
10. Revelation 3:18
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."
Naked, come to Thee for dress. Jesus told the self-satisfied church at Laodicea, which thought it was rich, that it was really poor, blind and naked. He counseled them to receive from Him white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. Toplady confesses what Laodicea would not: he is naked before God, with nothing to cover his sin. The white raiment is Christ's own righteousness, given as a gift. The hymn's four short lines in stanza 3 are a confession of total need, and of total trust.
11. Psalms 51:7
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
Wash me, Savior, or I die! David's prayer after his sin with Bathsheba is the model for Toplady's: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Hyssop was the plant used to sprinkle the blood of sacrifices. David knew he could not wash away his own guilt; only God could. Toplady's or I die is not drama. Without cleansing, a sinner is truly lost. For the whole psalm, see our page on Psalm 51.
12. 2 Corinthians 5:10
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgment-throne. Toplady's last stanza faces death and the judgment squarely. Paul writes: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. For someone trusting in their own goodness, that is a terrifying thought. But Toplady ends where he began, hiding in the Rock. The Judge on the throne is the same Christ who was cleft for him. When my eye-strings break in death, an old way of describing the moment the eyes fail, he will still be hidden in Christ, and safe.
A short prayer
Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in You. I confess that the labors of my hands cannot meet Your law's demands, and that my best is as filthy rags. Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to Your cross I cling. Clothe me in Your righteousness, wash me in the fountain opened for sin, and cleanse me from its guilt and power. While I draw this fleeting breath, and when I stand before Your throne, keep me hidden in You, for You must save, and You alone. Amen.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote Rock of Ages?
Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778), an Anglican clergyman and vicar of Broadhembury in Devon, England, wrote the words. The full hymn was first printed in The Gospel Magazine in March 1776 and then in his collection Psalms and Hymns (1776). In America it is usually sung to the tune Toplady by Thomas Hastings (1830); in Britain the tune Petra by Richard Redhead is more common.
What does cleft for me mean in Rock of Ages?
Cleft means split or broken open. The image combines the rock Moses struck in the wilderness to bring water (Exodus 17:6), the cleft of the rock where God hid Moses (Exodus 33:22), and Paul's statement that that Rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). Christ was struck and pierced on the cross, so that sinners can hide in Him from judgment, as Moses hid in the rock.
Is the Rock of Ages story at Burrington Combe true?
The story says Toplady took shelter from a storm in a cleft in the rocks at Burrington Combe, in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, and wrote the hymn there. It was first published in a letter to The Times in 1898, more than a century after Toplady died, and most hymn historians think it is a legend. A likelier source is a 1673 sermon by Daniel Brevint that uses similar language. The rock at Burrington Combe is still a popular sight.
Is the hymn Rock of Ages in the public domain?
Yes. Toplady's words were published in 1776, and the tunes Toplady (1830) and Petra (1853) are also old enough to be in the public domain. The hymn has nothing to do with the 1980s Def Leppard song or the Broadway musical Rock of Ages, both of which are copyrighted works.
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.
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