Skip to content
hymnal.net
hymnal.net
My Songs

About Numbered Notation

All steps
  1. The numbers are the notes of a scale
  2. “1=C” tells you where to start
  3. Dots make a note higher or lower
  4. How long each note lasts
  5. 0 means rest
  6. Bar lines and the time signature
  7. Curves: ties and slurs
  8. The words sit under the numbers
  9. Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings
  10. Minor keys: “6=A”
  11. Put it together: a line of a hymn
  12. Check yourself
  13. Try it on a hymn

The numbers are the notes of a scale

Numbered notation (jianpu, 简谱) writes a melody as numbers instead of notes on a staff. You do not need to read music: take one small step at a time and press Play on any example to hear it while each number lights up. Sound only starts when you press Play.

Instead of notes on a staff, each note is a number from 1 to 7. They are the seven steps of the scale you already know: do re mi fa sol la ti. After 7 the scale starts again at 1.

The seven numbers with their names. Press Play and say each name as its number lights up.
Sing along: do re mi fa sol, and back down to do.

If you can sing do re mi, you can already sing every number from 1 to 7. Tap or click any number to hear just that note.

“1=C” tells you where to start

At the top left of the sheet you will see something like 1=C. It means the number 1 (do) is the note C, and every other number counts up from there. 1=G means do is G, so the whole tune sits a little higher. Nothing else changes: the same numbers make the same shape, only higher or lower.

1=C: do is C.
1=G: the same numbers, starting higher.

Not sure where C is? On a piano it is the white key just left of the two black keys. Or ignore the letter and start on any note that is comfortable for your voice: the tune only has to keep its shape. The − and + key buttons on a hymn page shift the key for you.

Dots make a note higher or lower

A dot above a number means one octave higher. A dot below means one octave lower. Two dots mean two octaves. No dot is the middle range, where most of a tune lives. The name stays the same; only the height changes.

The same number at three heights: dot below, no dot, dot above.
A tune that climbs: it starts on a low sol and ends on a high do.

How long each note lasts

Tap your foot at a steady pace: each tap is a beat. A plain number lasts one beat, so you sing a new number on every tap. Dashes, lines and dots change that.

A plain number is one beat

Four numbers, four beats: one number for each tap.

A dash holds the note longer

Each dash adds one beat. The 5 lasts two beats and the 3 lasts four.

A line underneath makes it shorter

One line is half a beat, so two underlined numbers share one beat. (Two lines are a quarter of a beat.)

A dot after makes it half as long again

A dot after a number adds half its length. The first 5 lasts a beat and a half, and the short 3 fills the rest of the second beat.

0 means rest

A 0 is silence for one beat. Keep counting and keep tapping, but do not sing. Dashes after a 0 make the silence longer, just as they hold a note longer.

Sing 1 3 5, stay quiet for one beat, then come back down. Rests light up too, so you can feel the pause.

Bar lines and the time signature

Tall lines cut the music into bars, each holding the same number of beats. The two small numbers at the start, like 4/4 or 3/4, say how many: 4/4 is four beats in every bar, 3/4 is three. The first beat of each bar is the strongest, so lean on it a little. A double line with a thick edge marks the end.

4/4: count 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4. The first beat of each bar sounds a little louder.
3/4: count 1 2 3, 1 2 3, the lilt of a waltz.

Curves: ties and slurs

A curve over numbers joins them. If it joins two of the same number, it is a tie: sing the note once and hold it for both. If it joins different numbers, it is a slur: sing them all on one syllable, gliding from one to the next.

A tie: the 5 is sung once and held across the bar line, six beats in all.
A slur: “Him” is sung on two notes, 3 then 2.

The words sit under the numbers

Each number gets one syllable, written right underneath it. A short dash after part of a word means the word carries on under the next number. If a number has nothing under it, it belongs to a curve or a dash: keep singing the syllable you are on.

Read left to right, one syllable for each number: Twin-kle, twin-kle, lit-tle star.

Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings

A bar line with two dots, :|, means go back and sing that part again, from the matching |: sign (or from the start if there is none). Sometimes the repeat has two endings. Sing ending 1. the first time; on the repeat, skip it and sing ending 2. instead.

Play it: you hear the 1. ending, the repeat, then the 2. ending. Watch the highlight jump back.

Minor keys: “6=A”

A song in a minor key, which usually sounds more serious or tender, is labeled like 6=A instead of 1=C. It means the number 6 (la) is the home note, here A. The numbers keep their usual names; the tune simply feels at home on 6 and often ends there. 6=A uses the same notes as 1=C.

It starts and ends on 6 (la), the home note. Listen to the darker colour.

Put it together: a line of a hymn

This is the first line of hymn 8, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow”, written in numbered notation. Try the slow tempo first, and sing the words as each number lights up.

1=G in 4/4. Three silent beats, then “Praise” on beat 4. The dots under 7, 6 and 5 mean those notes dip one octave lower.

Check yourself

Four quick questions, with no score and no pressure. Tap an answer to see right away why it is right or wrong. You can always try another answer.

Tap the number that is held the longest.

Tap the 5 that is one octave higher than the first 5.

What does a 0 mean?

Under 1=G, which note is the number 1?

Try it on a hymn

You opened this from a hymn that has a Numbered view, so you can try it right now.

  1. Look at the top left of the sheet: the key, such as 1=D, and the time signature, such as 3/4.
  2. Find the first number and sing it. Then follow the numbers from left to right with the words underneath, one syllable for each number. Press Play in the player to hear the recording while you follow.
  3. Letters above the numbers (C, G7) are chords for a guitarist or pianist. Ignore them while you learn the tune.
  4. To be guided, open the Learn tab and press Play. Under Display, set Learn notation to Numbered (or choose Numbered on the Lead Sheet tab first). For hymns that have numbered lines, each line of numbers scrolls into view in time with the recording while a bouncing ball follows the words; other hymns show the piano notation there. The Speed menu slows it down.

Open this guide as its own page

Download limit reached

Jesus! Source of life eternal

Praise of the Lord His Suffering

English98
1
Jesus! Source of life eternal!
Jesus, Author of our breath!
Victor o’er the hosts infernal,
By defeat, and shame, and death,
Thou through deepest tribulation
Deigned to pass for our salvation:
Thousand, thousand praises be,
Lord of glory, unto Thee!
2
Thou, O Son of God! wert bearing
Cruel mockings, hatred, scorn;
Thou, the King of glory, wearing,
For our sake, the crown of thorn:
Dying, Thou didst us deliver
From the chains of sin for ever;
Thousand, thousand praises be,
Precious Savior, unto Thee!
3
All the shame men heaped upon Thee,
Thou didst patiently endure;
Not the pains of death too bitter,
Our redemption to procure:
Wondrous Thy humiliation
To accomplish our salvation:
Thousand, thousand praises be,
Precious Savior. unto Thee!
4
Heart-felt praise and adoration,
Savior, thus to Thee we give:
For Thy life’s humiliation,
For Thy death, whereby we live;
All the grief Thou wert enduring,
All the bliss Thou wert securing,
Evermore the theme shall be,
Of thanksgivings, Lord, to Thee.

Delete Comment

Delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Un Hermano

Oct 20, 2025

THE LIVING OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

Such a picture has helped us to see the entry into the city, the constitution of the city with the divine element of the Triune God, and the existence of the city. Now we need to see the living of the New Jerusalem. The living of the city is also triune. In the New Jerusalem we see that the One sitting on the throne is the source of life. This refers to God the Father who is within the Lamb as the light and who is the source of life ( John 5:26 ). Proceeding out of the throne is the river of water of life. John 7:38-39 indicates that the river of water of life denotes the Spirit of life. In this river grows the tree of life, which refers to the Son. Thus, we see the triune living of the New Jerusalem—the Father sitting on the throne as the source, the Spirit flowing out of the Father as a river, and the Son as the tree of life growing in the Spirit to express Himself for the life supply of the entire city. Actually, the city’s living is the Triune God’s living. In eternity in the new heaven and the new earth, the Triune God and His redeemed people will be one entity. The Triune God and His chosen, redeemed, called, forgiven, regenerated, transformed, and glorified people will be mingled together as one for eternity.

Living with the Father

We should be those living with the Father as the source of life ( John 1:13 ; Eph. 4:18 ; John 5:26 ) on the throne. The first striking point of the New Jerusalem is that God is sitting on the throne. This God is the Lamb-God, the redeeming God, God the Redeemer. Genesis 1:1 does not tell us that in the beginning God and the Lamb created the heavens and the earth. The first verse of the book of Genesis tells us that God only created. In Revelation 22:1 , however, we see God and the Lamb, which signifies that God is now the redeeming God, no longer merely the creating God. In Genesis 1:1 He was the creating God, but in Revelation 22:1 we see the redeeming God.

Living with the Son

We also need to be those living with the Son as the embodiment of God ( Col. 2:9 ). When you have the Father, you have the Son, and when you have the Son, you have the Father. The Son as the embodiment of God is life ( 3:4 ). We live with the Father as the source of life, but we live with the Son as life. The New Testament does not tell us that the Father is life, but it always says that the Son is life ( v. 4 ; John 14:6 ). The life comes out of the source, of course, just as the flow comes out of the fountain. We live with the Father as the fountain, and we live with the Son as life and as the life supply, the tree of life ( Rev. 22:2 ; 2:7 ). Even today in the church life, as indicated by Revelation 2:7 , we can eat the tree of life.

Living with the Spirit

We also need to be those living triunely with the Spirit as the realization of Christ the Son ( John 14:17a ; 15:26 ; 16:13-15 ). When you call, “O Lord Jesus Christ, ” you enjoy the Lord. When you enjoy the Lord, immediately the Lord within you is the Spirit. The Lord is realized as the Spirit. The more you call on the Lord, the more you have the Spirit within you as the realization of Christ, the Spirit of reality. The reality mainly denotes the very being in the divine essence of the Triune God. The Spirit is the reality of the Triune God.

God's New Testament Economy

Chapter 42 CWWL, 1984, vol. 3 (LSM)

Read more
Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Feb 14, 2021

“Jesus! Source of Life Eternal” was written over 400 years ago, and still finds a place with hymns written later in time. It is a translation from the German by Miss H. K. Burlingham, who is also the writer of many well known-hymns.

Ernst C. Homburg was born at the German village of Mills, in 1605. Early in his life, Ernst evinced that he was gifted in literature. At Naumburg in Saxony he became clerk of Assizes. Despite this important official appointment, he freely associated with companions who had loose habits, and many of his early poems included the debased love and drinking songs characteristic of the times. He was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the top poets and won distinction in literature. Homburg almost reached the goal of his ambition when he is fell stricken with a severe and prolonged illness which was followed by serious domestic difficulties. In his affliction he cried out to God for mercy. His cry was heard, the chains of sin were broken, and his trust was now in the Savior. From that moment he became a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus, and the pen which up to now had brought him accolades from the world, was now used in giving to the Church songs of highest praise, many of which have been translated into English and are in frequent use today.

Homburg died at Naumburg in 1681.

Read more
Grace Akhilele

Cherry Hill, New Jersey, United States

Aug 15, 2014

Wonderful! I am truly blessed by coming across this song . Wonderful tribute to our wonderful Savior.

Read more