Words: , 1847. Al­ex­an­der wrote this hymn as she sat up one night with her ser­i­ous­ly sick daugh­ter. Ma­ny times, tra­vel­ing to town to shop, she had passed a small grassy mound, just out­side the old ci­ty wall of Der­ry, Ire­land. It al­ways made her think of Cal­va­ry, and it came to mind as she wrote this hymn. She pub­lished it in her Hymns for Lit­tle Child­ren in 1848.

Music: Green Hill (Steb­bins), , 1878. Al­ter­nate tunes:

  • Horsley, , 1844
  • Meditation, , 1890

There is a green hill far away,
Outside a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.

Refrain

O dearly, dearly, has He loved,
And we must love Him, too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

Refrain

He died that we might be forgiv’n,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to Heav’n,
Saved by His precious blood.

Refrain

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in.

Refrain

O dearly, dearly has He loved,
And we must love Him, too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.

Refrain