The lyrics are a poetic struggle to define something that "surpasses knowledge".
While often associated with , who wrote the primary verses in 1917, the most famous lines of the hymn—the third verse—carry a much older story. The Love of God - Mercy Me [With Lyrics]
: The third verse uses grand metaphors to show the scale of divine love. It posits that even if every stalk on earth were a quill and every person a scribe, the "ocean of ink" would run dry before the story of God's love could be fully told. Why It Resonates Today The lyrics are a poetic struggle to define
: The opening lines declare that God’s love "goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell," emphasizing that no person is beyond the reach of grace. It posits that even if every stalk on
: The imagery of an ocean filled with ink and skies made of parchment traces back nearly a thousand years to an Aramaic poem called Akdamut Millin , composed by Rabbi Meir ben Yitzchak in 11th-century Germany.