“WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD?”
- Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? - Were you there when the blood came streaming down?
Were you there when the blood came streaming down?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when the blood came streaming down? - Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb? - Were you there when He rose up from the dead?
Were you there when He rose up from the dead?
Oh, sometimes I feel like shouting glory, glory, glory!
Were you there when He rose up from the dead?
Story behind
“Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?“
The composer of this hymn is unknown. Tradition says that it was most likely composed by an African-American on a southern plantation during the times of slavery.
The hymn was first published in a collection called Old Plantation Hymns in 1899, compiled by the Reverend William Eleazar Barton (1861-1930). Barton was a minister from Illinois who graduated from Berea College in Kentucky and Oberlin Theological Seminary, where he received his divinity degree in 1890. In addition to collecting and preserving a number of Southern folk hymns and spirituals, he was also a scholar and biographer of the life and work of President Abraham Lincoln.
This hymn rose from being a hymn sung on plantations to becoming a standard of the Western Church, and later becoming a staple of Good Friday services.
Hoping you enjoy and are blessed with listening to Jubilant Sykes version of this song. It starts off, maybe a bit slow for some, but totally worth listening to the end!
-Debra
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