1 Loving Shepherd of your sheep,
all your lambs in safety keep;
nothing can your power withstand,
none can pluck them from your hand.
2 May they praise you ev'ry day,
gladly all your will obey,
like your blessed ones above,
happy in your precious love.
3 Loving Shepherd, ever near,
teach your lambs your voice to hear;
suffer not their steps to stray
from the straight and narrow way.
4 Where you lead them may they go,
walking in your steps below;
then, before your Father's throne,
Savior, claim them for your own.
Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #527
First Line: | Loving Shepherd of Thy sheep |
Title: | Loving Shepherd of Thy Sheep |
Author: | Jane Eliza Leeson |
Meter: | 7.7.7.7 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Loving Shepherd of Thy sheep. Jane E. Leeson. [The Good Shepherd.] Published in her Hymns and Scenes of Childhood, 1842, No. 17, in 3 stanzas of 8 lines, and headed with the text "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me," &c. In its original form it is not often found in modern hymn-books. In Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1875, and most other collections, lines 4-8 of stanza i. are omitted, thus forming a hymn of 5 stanzas of 4 lines. The omitted lines are:—
"Bought with blood, and bought for Thee,
Thine, and only Thine, I'd be,
Holy, harmless, humble, mild,
Jesus Christ's obedient child."
The Hymns Ancient & Modern text is the popular form of the hymn.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)