Jesus Loves Me is a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

 set to words by Anna Bartlett Warner

Anna Bartlett Warner

Anna Bartlett Warner was an American writer, the author of several books, and of poems set to music as hymns and religious songs for children...

. The lyrics first appeared as a poem in the context of a novel called Say and Seal, written by Susan Warner

Susan Warner

Susan Bogert Warner , was an American evangelical writer of religious fiction, children's fiction, and theological works.-Biography:...

 and published in 1860. The tune was added in 1862 by William Batchelder Bradbury

William Batchelder Bradbury

William Batchelder Bradbury was a musician who composed the tune to Jesus Loves Me and many other popular hymns.-Biography:...

 who found the text of "Jesus Loves Me" in this book, in which the words were spoken as a comforting poem to a dying child. Along with his tune, Bradbury added his own chorus "Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus Loves me..." After publication the song became one of the most popular Christian hymns in churches around the world.

Different verses, other than the first, often are substituted. The verse about illness is usually omitted, to make the hymn less disturbing to children. The United Church of Canada

United Church of Canada

The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...

 hymnal attributes the second and fourth verse, and the last two lines of the final verse, to David Rutherford McGuire. Attribution of the third verse is unknown. An external link at the end of this article points to the original version.

Lyrics

Jesus loves me! This I know,

For the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to Him belong;

They are weak, but He is strong.

Chorus:

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! This I know,

As He loved so long ago,

Taking children on His knee,

Saying, “Let them come to Me.”

Chorus

Jesus loves me when I'm good,

When I do the things I should,

Jesus loves me when I'm bad,

Though it makes Him very sad.

Chorus

Jesus loves me still today,

Walking with me on my way,

Wanting as a friend to give

Light and love to all who live.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He who died

Heaven’s gate to open wide;

He will wash away my sin,

Let His little child come in.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! Loves me still

Tho' I'm very weak and ill;

That I might from sin be free

Bled and died upon the tree.

Chorus

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.

Chorus

John M. Frame's "The Doctrine of the Word of God" (2010; p. viii) cites a version with four verses: the above 1 and 5; followed by the following two verses (he attributes all of them to Anna B. Warner):

Jesus loves me! Loves me still

Though I'm very weak and ill;

From his shining throne on high

Comes to watch me where I lie.

Jesus loves me! He will stay

Close beside me all the way;

If I love him, when I die

He will take me home on high.

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Verses

Three verses appear along with the first verse in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, the hymnal of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Evangelical Lutheran Synod

The Evangelical Lutheran Synod or ELS is a US-based Protestant Christian denomination based in Mankato, Minnesota, USA. It describes itself as a conservative, Confessional Lutheran body.-Membership:...

. These four verses are the only verses of the hymn in this hymnal.

Jesus loves me! See His grace!

On the cross He took my place.

There He suffered and He died,

That I might be glorified.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! God's own Son

Over sin the vict'ry won.

When I die, saved by His grace,

I shall see Him face to face.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He is near.

He is with His Church so dear.

And the Spirit He has sent

By His Word and Sacrament.

Chorus

Recorded versions

Versions have been recorded by contemporary artists such as Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

, cocorosie

CocoRosie

CocoRosie is a musical group formed in 2003 by sisters Bianca "Coco" and Sierra "Rosie" Casady. The sisters were born and raised in the United States, but formed the band in Paris after meeting for the first time in years...

, Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised lead singer Beyoncé Knowles alongside Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme...

, Anita Bryant

Anita Bryant

Anita Jane Bryant is an American singer, former Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and gay rights opponent. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses", which reached #5...

, Kenny Loggins

Kenny Loggins

During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...

, Bobby Womack

Bobby Womack

Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...

, Sting, Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

, Javier Bardem

Javier Bardem

Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los...

, The Coen Brothers, Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

, Tim Curry

Tim Curry

Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....

, Danity Kane

Danity Kane

Danity Kane was an American female music group signed to Bad Boy Records, first established in 2005. Formed on the third installment of MTV's Making the Band reality television series, the quintet comprised members Aubrey O'Day, Wanita "D. Woods" Woodgett, Shannon Bex, Dawn Richard, and Aundrea...

, William Sledd

William Sledd

William L Sledd is a YouTube internet celebrity, made famous by his online videos and blogs, which include the popular "Ask A Gay Man" series...

, Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

, Christie Brinkley

Christie Brinkley

Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress best known for her three consecutive appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl, the longest ever of any model in history, and for her marriage...

, DMX

DMX (rapper)

Earl Simmons , better known by his stage name DMX, is a multiplatinum American rapper and actor who rose to fame in the late 1990s. His stage name pays tribute to the Oberheim DMX drum machine, an instrument he used when he made his own rap beats in the 80's...

, Jaslene Gonzalez

Jaslene Gonzalez

Jaslene Gonzalez is a Puerto Rican American model, television host, and winner of Cycle 8 of America's Next Top Model.-Biography:...

, Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee

Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...

 and Placebo

Placebo (band)

Placebo are a British rock band from London, England, formed in 1994 by singer and guitarist Brian Molko and bass guitarist Stefan Olsdal. The band was joined by drummer Robert Schultzberg, who was later replaced by Steve Hewitt after conflicts with Molko. Hewitt left the band in October 2007 and...

.

History

In 1943 in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

's PT-109

Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109

PT-109 was a PT boat last commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Theater during World War II...

 was rammed and sunk. Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana

Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana

Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana were indigenous people of Solomon Islands, of native Melanesian descent, who found John F. Kennedy and his surviving PT-109 crew following the boat's collision with the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near Plum Pudding Island on 1 August 1943...

 who found Kennedy and the survivors remember that when they rode on PT boats to retrieve the survivors, the Marines sang this song with the natives, who had learned it from Seventh-day Adventist missionaries.

This hymn was titled "China" in some hymnals of the 19th century, and was the inspiration for the name of the town of China, Maine

China, Maine

China is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,106 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....

.

The song's first stanza can be occasionally heard in the survival horror first-person shooter

First-person shooter

First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

, BioShock

Bioshock

BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...

. When the main character is walking around a splicer that has not yet seen the player, they sometimes sing the first stanza of the song, along with phrases that imply their faith.

An eerie, heavily distorted recording of the first stanza and the chorus is played over the credits of the Bible-inspired roguelike

Roguelike

The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...

 computer game The Binding of Isaac

The Binding of Isaac (video game)

The Binding of Isaac is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl. It was released on Steam on September 28, 2011. Players control a crying naked child named Isaac or one of five other unlockable characters...

, after the full game has been completed ten times.

External links

• Volume two of Say and Seal including the poem in its original context
• Cyber Hymnal about the hymn
• Lead sheet, both pdf and Finale