Twas A Sheep Not A Lamb That Strayed Away
Twas a sheep not a lamb that strayed away
In the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong;
They lead the lambs astray.
Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong, it won’t take long
Til the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when sheep are lost, what a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay!
-C. C. Miller
Hi, just thought I’d let you know you left out one of my favorite parts, the stanza about the good Shepherd. Here’s a copy of the whole thing (worded a little differently):
‘Twas a sheep not a lamb that went astray
In the parable Jesus told.
‘Twas a grown sheep that wandered away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And out on the hilltop, and out in the cold,
‘Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought.
Back to the fold and back to the flock,
‘Twas a sheep that the Good Shepherd brought.
Now, why should the sheep be so carefully fed
And cared for even to-day?
Because there is danger if they go wrong,
They will lead the lambs astray.
The lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Where’er they wander–where’er they go.
If the sheep goes wrong, it will not be long
Till the lambs are as wrong as they.
So still with the sheep we must earnestly plead,
For the sake of the lambs to-day.
If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost
The sheep will have to pay!
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shawn Reply:
August 8th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Thanks, Chelsey. Good to know it’s now complete.
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God changed my life
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I think Chelsey’s version of the poem has a bit more of a bite to it.
In the first version, “If the sheep are lost, what a terrible cost the lambs will have to pay.” the heart is caused to worry about the lambs who innocently follow a wayward leader.
But in Chelsey’s verson, “If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost the sheep will have to pay! the heart must break for the wayward leader who will suffer more severely for misleading the innocent.
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shawn Reply:
November 11th, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Wow! I didn’t even notice the difference there. I had read and re-read the two versions of the poem and thought about trying to amalgamate them, but they’re both so different. Strange though, isn’t it? The differences? I wonder how or why the differences happened.
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I agree with David about the difference in the two stories. If we look at life in general whenever things do go wrong someone has to pay, it is most unlikely to be the leader but most of the time it is the poor lambs who followed him, just a thought….smile! Have a wonderful day, Lee
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