Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?

Questions drive the opening: "Alas, and did my Savior bleed / And did my Sovereign die?" The speaker is stunned that the one on the "tree" would give up His "sacred head" for "such a worm as I," and calls it "amazing pity, grace unknown." The wonder is personal, the cross as something done for me, and the verse ends by naming a love "beyond degree."

The chorus speaks to God directly: "My God, why would You shed Your blood / So pure and undefiled." The answer comes in the same breath, as the sinner is called Your "chosen, precious child." Awe gives way to a settled sense of being claimed.

The second verse widens to creation. The sun hides in darkness "when Christ, the mighty Maker, died," and the singer, hiding a "blushing face," asks for a heart dissolved in thankfulness and eyes melted to tears. It echoes the darkness over the land at the crucifixion (Matthew 27:45) and the picture of one wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5), with Romans 5:8 supplying the reason: Christ died for sinners while they were still sinners.