Sunday, February 19, 2023

"Jesu, deine Passion" (#76)

German text in the Gesangbuch:
1 Jesu, deine Passion
will ich jetzt bedenken;
wollest mir vom Himmelsthron
Geist und Andacht schenken.
In dem Bild jetzund erschein,
Jesu, meinem Herzen,
wie du, unser Heil zu sein,
littest alle Schmerzen.

2 Meine Seele sehen mach
deine Angst und Bande,
deine Speichel, Schläg und Schmach,
deine Kreuzesschande,
deine Geißel, Dornenkron,
Speer- und Nägelwunden,
deinen Tod, o Gottessohn,
und den Leib voll Schrunden.

3 Doch so laß mich nicht allein
deine Marter sehen,
laß mich auch die Ursach fein
und die Frucht verstehen.
Ach, die Ursach war auch ich,
ich und meine Sünde;
diese hat gemartet dich,
nicht das Heideng'sinde.

4 Jesu, lehr bedenken mich
dies mit Buß und Reue;
hilf, daß ich mit Sünde dich
martre nicht aufs neue.
Sollt ich dazu haben Lust,
und nicht wollen meiden,
was Gott selber büßen mußt
mit so großem Leiden?

5 Wenn mir meine Sünde will
machen heiß die Hölle,
Jesu, meine Gewissen still,
dich ins Mittel stelle.
Dich und deine Passion
laß mich gläubig fassen;
liebet mich sein lieber Sohn,
wie kann gott mich hassen?

6 Gib auch, Jesu, daß ich gern
dir das Kreuz nachtrage,
daß ich Demuth von dir lern
und Geduld in Plage,
daß ich dir geb Lieb um Lieb.
Indeß laß dies Lallen
(bessern Dank ich dorten geb),
Jesu, dir gefallen.

Sigmund Betulius, 1653.
My prose translation:
1 Jesus, Your Passion
I want to consider now;
From the throne of Heaven, You want
To give me spirit and devotion.
In the image now appears
To my heart, Jesus,
How You, to be our salvation,
Suffered all pains.

2 My soul does see
Your dread and bonds,
Your spit, blows, and shame,
Your disgrace upon the cross,
Your whipping, crown of thorns,
Spear and nail wounds,
Your death, O Son of God,
And Your body full of cracks.

3 Yet let me see not only
Your torture;
Let me also understand
The excellent reason and the fruit.
Oh, the cause was even I,
I and my sin;
This, not the heathen servants,
Has tormented You.

4 Jesus, teach me to consider this
With repentance and regret;
Help that I with sin
Do not torture You anew.
Should I have desire for it
And not want to avoid
What God Himself had to atone for
With such great suffering?

5 When my sin wants
To make hell hot for me,
Jesus, ease my conscience,
Place Yourself as the means.
Let me faithfully grasp
You and your Passion;
[If] His dear Son loves me,
How can God hate me?

6 Grant also, Jesus, that I gladly
Carry the cross behind You,
That I learn from You humility
And patience in misery,
That I would give You love upon love.
Meanwhile let this babble
(Better thanks I would give there)
Be pleasing to You, Jesus.

Sigmund Betulius, 1653.
In the first verse, there's a subject-verb disagreement between the verb "erschein" and the clause "wie du... littest alle Schmerzen," which acts as the subject.  There's a singular subject but a plural verb, apparently so that "erschein" will rhyme with "sein" later in the verse.

I translated "Meine Seele sehen mach" at the beginning of the second verse as "My soul does see," but I'm not sure this is actually correct.

I shuffled the last two lines of the third verse to make it clear that "the heathen servants" is nominative, not accusative.  If I kept the original structure, it would result in "This has tormented You, /  Not the heathen servants," but this isn't quite the intended sense.

"Carry the cross behind You" in the sixth verse seems to refer to Matthew 10:38, 16:24 and Luke 9:23.

The Gesangbuch lists Sigmund Betulius as the author of this hymn and notes that the text is sung to the tune "Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod."  Judging by those data, I think this hymn isn't in The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, or The Lutheran Service Book, but it's extremely similar to "Jesus, I Will Ponder Now" (TLH #140, LW #109, LSB #440), which is credited to Sigismund von Birken.

At the time of this writing, I've just started learning the arrangement of "Jesu Leiden, Pein, und Tod" in Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch (#110), and it's very similar to "Jesu Kreuz, Leiden und Pein," the tune to which "Jesus, I Will Ponder Now" is sung.