Day 9: Jesus Paid It All -Elvina Hall

Background

Elvina Hall [link to Amazon Music] was in the choir loft in church one Sunday morning in 1865 feeling the pastor's prayer was going a bit too long. She began to have the words of the first verse and refrain of this song form in her mind and heart for the first time and searched, during the prayer, for paper to write them down. There was no paper nearby so she wrote the words in her hymnbook, not realizing that this would become a classic printed in almost every hymbook in every denomination for the next century. After the service, she showed her pastor what she had done and he realized that the organist had also written a new song that day and they fit together perfectly. He worked with them to finish the hymn and the rest is history. One of the most beloved hymns in history.

A Typo: Leopard not Leper

A well-known typo in the lyrics happens in verse 4. The original manuscripts and many early hymnals would read "Can change the leper's spots" but this was always supposed to be "Can change the leopard's spots." You might be wondering about that because Jesus clearly healed lepers so the verse might sound better to you with the typo. However, what the verse is trying to show is the transformative power that only the Lord can do referencing Jeremiah 13:23 "Can an Ethipoian change his skin or a leopard change its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil." Verse 4 in the song is meant to express that only God can do the inward healing that we need 1 Peter 2:24 and the typo changes this to seem like it is about the outward healing of a leper, which He can also do Mark 1:40-45, so as typos go, that's pretty understandable.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I hear the Savior say,

“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

[Verse 2]
For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

[Verse 3]
And now complete in Him,
My robe, His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

[Verse 4]
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
Can change the *leopard’s spots [*leper’s]
And melt the heart of stone.

[Verse 5]
When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.

[Verse 6]
And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down,
All down at Jesus’ feet.

-Elvina Hall

Abundant Life Fellowship Version

Kim Walker Smith Version

Final Thoughts

I've given you my bucket full of grace for today. What do you think? Which means more to you and why leopard or leper? Comment below to share your bucket full of grace with me.

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Check out my analysis of these other hymns, if you're interested:

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