I Am Bound For The Promised

Standing "on Jordan's stormy banks," the singer casts "a wishful eye" toward Canaan's land, where "my possessions lie." Johnny Cash sings the old hymn as a pilgrim's song, and the refrain is a plain declaration of direction, "I am bound for the promised land," followed by an open invitation: "Oh who will come and go with me?"

The verses fill in what waits across the river. One eternal day shines over wide plains, and "God the Son forever reigns" and scatters night away. No chilling winds or poisonous breath reach that shore, and "sickness and sorrow, pain and death, are felt and feared no more." The last stanza moves from scenery to relationship: arrival means seeing "my Father's face" and resting in His bosom.

The hope matches Revelation 21:4, where death, mourning and pain pass away, and Revelation 22:4, where God's servants see His face. Hebrews 11:16 describes believers longing for a better, heavenly country.