Gott sei Dank durch alle Welt,der sein Wort beständig hält,und der Sünder Trost und Rathzu uns hergesendet hat.Was der alten Väter Scharhöchster Wunsch und Sehnen war,und was sie geprophezeit,ist erfüllt nach Herrlichkeit.Zions Hilf und Abrams Lohn,Jakobs Heil, der Jungfraun Sohn,der wohl zweigestammte Heldhat sich treulich eingestellt.Sei willkommen, o mein Heil!Hosianna, o mein Theil!Richte du auch eine Bahndir in meinem Herzen an.Zeuch, du Ehrenkönig, eines gehöret dir allein,mach es, wie gu gernethut,rein von allem Sündenwust.Und gleichwie dein Zukunft warvoller Sanftmuth, ohn Gefahr:also sei auch jederzeitdeine Sanftmuth mir bereit.Tröste, tröste meinen Sinn,weil ich schwach und blöde bin,und des Satans schlause Listsich zu hoch an mir vermißt.Tritt den Schlangenkopf entzwei,daß ich aller Aengsten freidir im Glauben um und anselig bleibe zugethan.Daß, wenn du, o Lebensfürst,prächtig wieder kommen wirst,ich dir mög entgegen gehn,und vor Gott gerecht bestehn.H. Held, 1643.
My prose translation:
Thanks be to God through all the world,Who constantly keeps His word,And to the sinners, comfort and adviceHas sent us here.What for the company of the old patriarchsWas [their] highest wish and yearningAnd what they prophesiedIs fulfilled in splendor.Zion's help and Abram's reward,Jacob's salvation, Son of the virgin,The good champion of two naturesHas truly appeared.Be welcome, o my Salvation!Hosanna, o my Portion!Prepare also a wayFor Yourself in my heart.Enter in, You honorable King;It belongs to You alone.Make it, as You gladly do,Clean from all mess of sin.And just as Your future wasFull of gentleness, without danger:So also may be alwaysYour gentleness ready for me.Comfort, comfort my mindBecause I am weak and feeble-mindedAnd Satan's crafty cunning[Sich zu hoch an mir vermißt].Tread the serpent's head in piecesThat I, free of all fears,To You in faith [um und an]Remain blessed [zugethan].That when You, O Prince of Life,Will come again in splendor,I may approach YouAnd stand righteous before God.
H. Held, 1643.
I'm not that confident on my translation of "zweigestammte," which I rendered as "of two natures" (although technically, it's an adjective). Stamm means something like family, line, or lineage, and "of two natures" (true God and true man) was the best I could come up with for this context.
The fourth verse seems to draw from both Psalm 119:57 ("The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words," although "Theil" isn't the specific word used in the German Psalter) and Isaiah 40:3 ("A voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'").
The beginning of the seventh verse seems to draw from Isaiah 40:1: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." I was unable to make sense of "sich zu hoch an mir vermißt." The only translation my dictionary provides for sich vermissen is to be missing, but this didn't seem to go with "zu hoch" ("too high" or "too highly").
"Tread the serpent's head in pieces" at the beginning of the eighth verse is a reference to "you shall bruise his heel" in Genesis 3:15. I had some problems making sense of all of this verse too.
This hymn appears as "Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#91), Lutheran Worship (#33), and The Lutheran Service Book (#352), although the LW and LSB versions are abbreviated. In all of these, and as the Gesangbuch notes, it's sung to the tune "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland." Here's the TLH arrangement: