Jesus Loves Me Lyrics - with Infographic for Memorizing
Jesus Loves Me Lyrics:
1.Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.
(Refrain)
Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, “Let them come to Me.”
(Refrain)
Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live.
(Refrain)
Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
(Refrain)
Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.
(Refrain)
Refrain:
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
Have you ever sung "Jesus Loves Me" and stopped to wonder where it came from? I have. I grew up singing it in Sunday school. I knew every word by heart. But I never once thought about the story behind it. When I finally looked into it, I was genuinely surprised. The history of this little song is so much bigger than I expected.
1. It Started as a Poem in a Novel
Most people don't know that "Jesus Loves Me" didn't begin as a hymn at all. It is a Christian hymn written by Anna Bartlett Warner, and the lyrics first appeared as a poem in an 1860 novel called Say and Seal, written by her older sister Susan Warner, where the words were spoken as a comforting poem to a dying child.
The scene in the novel is a quiet, tender one. The words are spoken to comfort a dying child, Johnny Fax, by his Sunday school teacher, Mr. John Linden. Two characters in the novel are concerned about the feverish boy.
As the child's condition worsens, he asks Linden to take him up in his arms. Linden picks up the sick boy, walks to and fro across the room, and tries to console him. Suddenly, the boy asks him to sing — and the teacher sings a soothing song that neither he nor the child has heard before.
Those simple words, born out of a fictional moment of grief and comfort, would go on to reach the whole world.
2. William Bradbury Gave It a Tune
The poem was beautiful. But it might have stayed buried in the pages of a book. The tune was added in 1862 by William Batchelder Bradbury.
Along with his tune, Bradbury added his own chorus — "Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me." That chorus is probably the part you remember first. Without Bradbury's tune, the text may have remained buried in the novel.
Bradbury composed a childlike pentatonic melody and added a refrain with text drawn from the first lines. It was simple by design. Easy to learn. Easy to remember. Easy to sing. And that simplicity is exactly what made it travel so far.
The Warner Sisters and the Soldiers
Here is the part of the story that surprised me most. The sisters lived together on the Hudson River in New York. Their house was next to a military academy for young boys, and they soon began teaching the Bible at the Academy, spending many years teaching the boys in Sunday school.
For over forty years, the sisters impacted the lives of the West Point cadets. It is impossible to know just how many of those young cadets came to know Christ as their Savior as a result of the Warner sisters and the song they came to love so much, but there were many.
The cadets of West Point would sing "Jesus Loves Me" for solace when they were on the battlefields during the American Civil War. The song became extremely popular among soldiers on both sides of the lines who found consolation in it.
The popularity of the song was so great that both sisters were buried with military honors because of the contribution they made to the spiritual well-being of the soldiers. They are the only civilians buried in the West Point Cemetery.
Remarkable, isn't it?. Two sisters. One little poem. And a legacy that outlasted nearly everything around them.
3. A Song That Reached the Whole World
What makes "Jesus Loves Me" so timeless? I think it comes down to one thing — its simplicity.
The words are easy. A small child can learn them. An elderly person can still recall them. It is one of the first hymns missionaries taught to new converts and children worldwide, and it grew in popularity and was translated into more languages than any other spiritual song. Today, this hymn is in over 559 hymnals.
Even in modern times, the song keeps showing up in unexpected places.
The song has been recorded by a large number of different artists, obscure and famous alike — including a 2012 performance by Whitney Houston and Kelly Price, which became Houston's last performance in an impromptu duet at a nightclub.
I've sung "Jesus Loves Me" my whole life. But knowing the story behind it — the dying boy in a novel, two sisters in a farmhouse, a hymn writer who couldn't get the words out of his head — it hits differently now. Sometimes the simplest songs carry the biggest stories. And "Jesus Loves Me" is living proof of that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote "Jesus Loves Me"?
The words were written by Anna Bartlett Warner. They first appeared as a poem in the 1860 novel Say and Seal, co-written with her sister Susan Warner. In the story, the words are sung by a Sunday school teacher to comfort a dying child.
Where did the melody come from?
The melody was composed by William Batchelder Bradbury in 1862. He also added the famous chorus "Yes, Jesus loves me." Before Bradbury set it to music, the words were just a poem tucked inside a novel.
Why is "Jesus Loves Me" sung all over the world?
Its simple words and easy tune made it perfect for teaching people of all ages and backgrounds. Missionaries carried it to new converts worldwide, soldiers sang it in wartime, and it has been translated into more languages than almost any other hymn — appearing in over 559 hymnals globally.
