I Was a Wandering Sheep Lyrics Horatius Bonar, 1844
4 verses, meter S. M. 8 l, public domain, free to print and project.
The words
Verse 1. I was a wandering sheep,
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd’s voice,
I would not be controlled;
I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home;
I did not love my Father’s voice,
I loved afar to roam.
Verse 2. The Shepherd sought His sheep,
The Father sought His child;
They followed me o’er vale and hill,
O’er deserts waste and wild;
They found me nigh to death,
Famished and faint and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love,
They saved the wandering one.
Verse 3. Jesus my Shepherd is,
’Twas He that loved my soul,
’Twas He that washed me in His blood,
’Twas He that made me whole;
’Twas He that sought the lost,
That found the wandering sheep;
’Twas He that brought me to the fold,
’Tis He that still doth keep.
Verse 4. I was a wandering sheep,
I would not be controlled.
But now I love my Shepherd’s voice,
I love, I love, the fold.
I was a wayward child,
I once preferred to roam,
But now I love my Father’s voice,
I love, I love, His home.
Words copied from Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book (Abridged Edition) (1927). They were published in 1844, so they are in the public domain in the United States, and your church may print them, show them and sing them without a license.
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