I Know the Lord's Laid His Hands on Me

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "I know the Lord (x3) has laid his hands on me (x2)." Verses: The singer has "been new born by the dying Lamb" and now walks "the narrow way." "I never felt such love before, Saying 'Go in peace and sin no more'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 207, "I Know the Lord's Laid His Hands on Me" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 166 in the 1909 edition)
Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro, p. 64, "I Know the Lord's Laid His Hands on Me" (1 text)
SongsOfManyNations, "I Know the Lord" (1 text, 1 tune) (CC edition, p. 56) (12th edition, p. 56)
Roud #11960
NOTES [174 words]: In Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute's and Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro's verses, every alternate line is "I know the Lord's laid his hands on me." - BS
The reference to sinning no more is presumably to "John 8:11" (a verse that is not an original part of the gospel of John but a later interpolation; the "John 8:11" numeration is that of the King James Bible, but these verses are found in other place in other manuscripts, and most early manuscripts omit "John 7:53-8:11" entirely). This is the story of the "Woman taken in adultery." After Jesus has said, "Let the one without sin cast the first stone" and her accusers had left, Jesus told the woman, "Go your way and sin no more."
None of this occurs in the Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro version. That refers more to direct salvation by Jesus. Both Jesus and Paul frequently cured by laying on of hands.
The reference to being drawn out of the miry clay is a close allusion to Psalm 40:2, "He has brought me up... out of the miry clay." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: Dett207

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