STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS
Joy is a fruit that will not grow The joy of the Lord is your strength
John Newton printed it in 1779 in Olney Hymns, Book I, no. 42.
WRITTEN BY
John Newton 1725–1807
PRINTED
1779 Olney Hymns · no. 42
METRE
Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 6 stanzas
WRITTEN ON
A subject no verse printed above it
The hymn, and the Scripture in it
All 6 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
Joy is a fruit that will not grow
In nature’s barren foil;
All we can boast, till CHRIST we know,
Is vanity and toil.
No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.
Its place in the book
Book I of Olney Hymns walks through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, one hymn per passage: 141 hymns. This is number 42. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.
NO. 42 · JOHN NEWTON · THIS HYMN Joy is a fruit that will not grow
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