Ach, bleib mit deiner Gnade bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ,
daß uns hinfort nicht schade des bösen Feindes List.
Ach, bleib mit deinem Worte bei uns, Erlöser werth,
daß uns beid hier und dorte sei Güt und Heil beschert.
Ach, bleib mit deinem Glanze bei uns, du werthes Licht,
den Wahrheit uns umschanze, damit wir irren nicht.
Ach, bleib mit deinem Segen bei uns, o reicher Herr,
dein Gnad und alls Vermögen in uns reichlich vermehr.
Ach, bleib mit deinem Schutz bei uns, du starker Held,
daß uns der Feind nicht trutze, noch fäll die böse Welt.
Ach, bleib mit deiner Treuer bei uns, heir Herr und Gott!
Bestänigkeit verleihe, hilf uns aus aller Noth.
Dr. Josua Stegman, 1632.
There was only one word I had difficulties with:
Oh, stay with us with Your mercy, Lord Jesus Christ,
That the cunning of the evil foe does not harm us.
Oh, stay with us with Your Word, dear Redeemer,
That both here and there we may be blessed with grace and salvation.
Oh, stay with us with Your splendor, You dear Light,
Surround us with Your truth, with it we do not go wrong.
Oh, stay with us with Your blessing, O rich Lord,
Plentifully increase Your mercy and all power in us.
Oh, stay with us with Your protection, You strong champion,
That the enemy nor the evil world [trutze] us.
Oh, stay with us with Your faithfulness, my Lord and God!
Grant perseverance, help us out of all distress.
This text appears as "Abide, O Dearest Jesus" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#53) and in The Lutheran Service Book (#919) and as "Abide with Us, Our Savior" in Lutheran Worship (#287). Instead of "abide," I translated "bleib" more prosaically as "stay."
That each stanza begins with "Ach, bleib... bei uns..." is an instance of the rhetorical device anaphora. "My Lord and God!" in the last verse seems to be a reference to Thomas in John 20:28.
Above the text in the Gesangbuch, there's a note: "In eigener Melodie. Oder: Christus, der ist mein Leben." "In its own melody. Or: Christ, who is my life." In each of the three hymnals noted above, this text is paired with the alternate tune "Christus, der ist mein Leben."
und Dank für seine Gnade, darum daß nun und nimmermehr
uns rühren kann kein Schade; ein Wohlgefalln Gott an uns hat, nun ist groß Fried ohn Unterlaß, all Fehd hat nun ein Ende.
Wir loben, preisn, anbeten dich,
für deine Ehr wir danken, daß du, Gott Vater, ewiglich
regierst ohn alles Wanken; ganz ungemessn ist deine Macht, fort g'schicht, was dein Will hat bedacht; wohl uns des seinen Herren!
O Jesu Christ! Sohn eingeborn
deines himmlischen Vaters, Versöhner der, die warn verlorn,
du Stiller unsers Haders; Lamm Gottes, heilger Herr und Gott, nimm an die Bitt von unsrer Noth, erbarm dich unser aller!
O Heilger Geist, du höchstes Gut,
du allerheilsamst Tröster, fürs Teufels G'walt fortan behüt,
die Jesus Christ erlöset durch große Martr und bittern Tod, abwend all unsern Jammr und Noth; darzu wir uns verlassen.
Nikolaus Decius, (?) 1529.
I had a bit of trouble translating some phrases, and because I didn't want to include an erroneous translation, I simply put the German in brackets and italics:
To God alone in the highest be honor
And thanks for his mercy
That now and forevermore no harm can touch us
God has [given] us a satisfaction
Now there is great peace unceasingly
All feud now has an end.
We praise, extol, worship You;
For Your honor we thank [You]
That You, God Father, eternally
Reign without any wavering;
Quite unmeasured in Your might
[Fort g'schicht] what Your will has considered;
[Wohl uns des feinen Herren!]
O Jesus Christ! Only-begotten son
Of Your heavenly Father,
Reconciler of those who were lost,
You calmer of our quarrelling;
Lamb of God, holy Lord and God,
Accept the petition of our need,
Have pity on us all!
O Holy God, You highest Good,
You all-salutary comforter,
[Fürs Teufels G'walt fortan behüt]
That Jesus Christ redeems
Through great torment and bitter death,
Turn away all of our misery and need;
On that we depend.
This hymn appears as "All Glory Be to God on High" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#237), Lutheran Worship (#215), and The Lutheran Service Book (#947). Each hymnal has a different translation.
In my recordings, I haven't gotten to #237 in The Lutheran Hymnal yet, but the tune "Allein Gott in der Höh'" is also used for #33 ("The Lord Hath Helped Me Hitherto") and #110 ("Across the Sky the Shades of Night").
From October 2019 to January 2020, I workt diligently on translating the Gesangbuch. I took a break in February, but when I pickt it up again in March, I lasted little more than a week before giving up indefinitely.
A couple weeks ago, I listened to an episode of Sharper Iron on KFUO in which Dr. Jastram mentioned how prayers in older hymnals have a different perspective on suffering from what is commonly encountered now. This made me curious about the tenor of the Gesangbuch, so I turned my attention to it again.
I had translated a couple collects (and many antiphons), but upon looking at the book again and starting a new section, I found that most of the book is hymn texts. (In hindsight, this should have been obvious, considering the title.) Initially, they were unrecognizable as such because they're shorn of their musical accompaniment and not formatted as I would have expected.
Not only did this discovery renew my interest in translating the book, but it also provided me - finally! - with a structure for this blog. From now on, I'm going to try to publish a post a week. Each post will contain the original German text from the Gesangbuch, my prose translation, and a note about whether the hymn appears in The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, and/or The Lutheran Service Book. Occasionally, I may also include some other comments and even a recording of the tune to which the hymn is sung (I've been recording hymn tunes from The Lutheran Hymnal for over four years now, and about six months ago, I started making my way through Georg Philipp Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch).