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About Numbered Notation

Numbered Notation (also called Jianpu, 简谱) writes each melody note as a number from 1 to 7 instead of a note on a staff. The number shows the note's position in the song's scale -- not its exact pitch -- so the same tune looks identical no matter what key it's sung in.

Within one octave, the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 correspond to the familiar do re mi fa sol la ti. A dot above a number raises it an octave higher; a dot below lowers it an octave lower -- no dot means the middle, as-written octave.

A plain number lasts one beat. A dash (-) right after a number holds that same note for one more beat. A line underneath a number shortens it instead -- one line is half a beat, two lines a quarter of a beat. A 0 is a rest: silence for one beat.

The label at the top of the sheet, like "1=C" or "1=Ab", shows which pitch scale degree 1 ("do") is tuned to. A song in a minor key is labeled "6=X" instead -- scale degree 6 ("la") is the true tonic. Chord names printed above the notes (like "C" or "G7") always use their familiar letter names, never numbers.

For example, under a "1=C" heading, the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 sound as C D E F G A B. Under a "1=G" heading, those very same numbers sound as G A B C D E F# instead -- same shape, different key.

The love of God is greater far

Worship of the Father His Love

English28
1
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin.
 
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
2
When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love, so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
3
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
Words & Music © 1923, Ren. 1951 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188.

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Anne Kawumi

Kampala, Uganda

Aug 1, 2012

This is one of my favourite hymns. How profound! How true! Ooh that all men would comprehend the love of God!

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Athew Marck

Visakhapatnam, AP, India

Jul 4, 2012

Pen and tongue are the best instruments to describe anything, but it's indeed true and worth saying that the love of God is far greater than what the two can tell to the world... It's unfathomably deep!!!

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Jackie Cheng

Hong Kong

Jul 3, 2012

God is delighted when I worship Him with this piano music. Indeed He is the God of love!

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T Bauman

Wisconsin

Jul 1, 2012

Thank you so much for including this song! I have been looking for this "oldie but goodie." How measureless and strong is God's love!

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Agnes De Beer

Drury, Auckland, New Zealand

Jun 19, 2012

What a beautiful song. What beautiful words. What sensitive truths. We were just so thrilled to hear the words and the powerful message they bring. Thank you so much.

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Jean Lee Robinette

Chapmanville, West Virginia, United States

Jun 15, 2012

Someone in my Sunday School Class said, "The Love of God." I quickly remembered this song from my childhood. The others didn't know it. I was so happy when I found this wonderful song again on this site. Thank you so much!

I will share this on Sunday with my friends!

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Di-Anne

Arima, West Indies, Trinidad And Tobago

Jun 1, 2012

I have loved this song since I was a child. My great grandmother had it on an Oral Roberts record. It was the beginning of my experience of the love of God. Since then I've come to know Him personally. He reveals His love to me over and over and I always marvel at Him. Whoever wrote this song has a gift of expression. He knows the love of God for himself.

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Edson Siwella

Cape Town, W Cape, South Africa

May 6, 2012

Blessed be the Lord who has committed into your capable hands the digitization and tune production of these great hymns... Yes, I did not really know this, but now have learned a great one: the Love of God.

Keep doing the work, and soon, very soon we shall be singing hallelujahs together - yes TOGETHER before the One who sits on the throne of grace.

Niyabulela!!! Ke a le boha

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Bill Chellberg

Wheaton, IL, United States

Dec 23, 2011

Here is the story of the writing of this hymn: Words: Frederick M. Lehman; he wrote this song in 1917 in Pasadena, California, and it was published in Songs That Are Different, Volume 2, 1919. The lyrics are based on the Jewish poem Haddamut, written in Aramaic in 1050 by Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai, a cantor in Worms, Germany; they have been translated into at least 18 languages.

One day, during short intervals of inattention to our work, we picked up a scrap of paper and, seated upon an empty lemon box pushed against the wall, with a stub pencil, added the (first) two stanzas and chorus of the song…Since the lines (3rd stanza from the Jewish poem) had been found penciled on the wall of a patient’s room in an insane asylum after he had been carried to his grave, the general opinion was that this inmate had written the epic in moments of sanity.

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Tanu Munetsi

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Nov 20, 2011

Who knows the writer of this song and what happened to him/her that led to this powerful song? I really want to know the background of the writer. I got to know this song recently. The Love of God has saved me.

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