Lyrics
Bread of heaven, on Thee we feed,
For Thy flesh is meat indeed;
Ever may our souls be fed
With this true and living bread;
Day by day with strength supplied,
Through the life of Him Who died.
Vine of heaven, Thy blood supplies
This blest cup of sacrifice;
Lord, Thy wounds our healing give,
To Thy cross we look and live;
Jesus, may we ever be
Grafted, rooted, built in Thee.
Public domain hymn text (1824). Words by Josiah Conder.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Josiah Conder wrote 'Bread of Heaven, on Thee We Feed' in 1824, drawing directly on John 6, where Jesus describes Himself as 'the bread of life' and states that His flesh and blood are 'meat indeed' and 'drink indeed.'
The hymn pairs two distinct biblical images, bread from John 6 and vine from John 15, joining both into a single Communion hymn addressing the two Eucharistic elements, bread and cup, in parallel six-line verses.
Its repeated request, to be 'ever' fed 'day by day,' treats spiritual nourishment as an ongoing, recurring need rather than a single, sufficient event, matching the actual repeated practice of regular Communion observance.
The hymn's closing image, asking to be 'grafted, rooted, built' into Christ, draws on Paul's language in Colossians 2 and Ephesians 3, extending the vine imagery into a picture of permanent, structural union rather than only nourishment.
Conder worked for much of his career as a publisher and editor, and this hymn remained a standard Communion text across English Nonconformist and broader Protestant hymnals.
