Ah, Holy Jesus
A Good Friday hymn that confesses our sin as the cause of Christ's suffering and thanks him for his love.
The words are public domain. We print a hymn only after checking it word for word against a dated old printing, and this one hasn’t been checked yet. Hymnary has it now.
“Ah, Holy Jesus” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
The hymn asks what Jesus did to deserve his suffering and answers that the singer's own sin brought it about. It ends by thanking Jesus for his love and promising to trust and praise him.
It follows the Passion story in the Gospels and echoes Isaiah 53, where the servant is wounded for the sins of others; Christians read that chapter as a picture of Jesus. It is sung in Holy Week, most often on Good Friday.
Johann Heermann wrote the German original in 1630. The English poet Robert Bridges translated it in 1899.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Johann Heermann, 1630 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | Robert Bridges, 1899 | Public domain |
| Tune | HERZLIEBSTER JESU · Johann Crüger, 1640 | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against hymnary.org text, tune and person pages (attribution and rights only). The words are not transcribed here yet.
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.