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Alas! by nature how depraved How shall I put thee among the children?

John Newton printed it in 1779 in Olney Hymns, Book II, no. 29, under Jeremiah 3:19.

WRITTEN BY

John Newton 1725–1807

PRINTED

1779 Olney Hymns · no. 29

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 7 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Jeremiah 3:19 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 7 stanzas as Newton printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

AMONG THE SCRIPTURES

The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.

a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here

STANZA I

Alas! by nature how depraved

Alas! by nature how depraved,

How prone to every ill!

Our lives, to Satan, how enslaved,

How obstinate our will!

No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.

Where Newton found it

Newton printed the hymn under Jeremiah 3:19. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me. JEREMIAH 3:19 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ JEREMIAH 3

Thus bought with blood, and born again, Redeemed, and saved, by grace Rebels, in God’s own house obtain A son’s and daughter’s place. STANZA VII

Its place in the book

Book II of the hymn book, “On occasional subjects”, holds these hymns in this order: 100 hymns. This is number 29. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 29 · JOHN NEWTON · THIS HYMN Alas! by nature how depraved

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