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"The Wayfaring Stranger," also known as "Poor Wayfaring Stranger," is a traditional folk song of unknown origin. There are many and varied opinions as to its origin. Some of the theories include Appalachian Folk, Old Irish, and Catskills Folk. One theory is that it originates from the Negro Spirituals and there was a deliberate concealment of the songs origins. The lyrics of negro spirituals were tightly linked with the lives of their authors: slaves. While work songs dealt only with their daily life, spirituals were inspired by the message of Jesus Christ and his Good News (Gospel) of the Bible, "You can be saved". They are different from hymns and psalms, because they were a way of sharing the hard condition of being a slave.

Many slaves in town and in plantations tried to run to a "free country", that they called "my home" or "Sweet Canaan, the Promised Land". This country was on the Northern side of Ohio River, that they called "Jordan". Some negro spirituals refer to the Underground Railroad, an organization for helping slaves to run away.

I am a poor, wayfaring stranger -
Wayfaring: traveling especially on foot; "peripatetic country preachers"; "a poor wayfaring stranger"

Wandering o'er this world of woe -
Matthew 18:7 "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

And there's no sickness, toil or danger -
John 11:4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."
Ecclesiastes 2:189 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
Acts 14:22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,"

In that bright land to which I go -
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

I'm going home to see my father -
John 6:40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

I'm going home, no more to roam

I'm only going over Jordan -
Joshua 22:4 Now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.

I'm only going over home

I know dark clouds will gather round me
2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong

I know my way is rough and steep -
Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand

But beauteous fields lie just before me

Where men redeemed their vigil's keep -
Exodus 12:42 Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come.

I'm going home to see my mother
Mark 10:29-31 "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fieldsand with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

I'm going there, no more to roam

I'm only going over Jordan -
Joshua 22:4 Now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.

I'm only going over home

Wayfaring Stranger Selah lyrics
Artist: Selah
Album: Be Still My Soul
Year: 1999
Title: Wayfaring Stranger