Sunday, March 19, 2023

"Kommt her und schaut" (#80)

German text in the Gesangbuch:
1 Kommt her und schaut, laßt uns doch von Herzen
betrachten Christi Leiden, Pein und Schmerzen:
er tritt die Kelter Gottes, wie ich meine,
wohl recht alleine.

2 Ach seht, wie angst wird ihm von unsern Sünden,
er muß sich, wie ein Wurm, am Oelberg winden,
daß ihm der Todesschweiß, mit dem er ringet,
blutig ausdringet.

3 Gott selbst fällt hier im Garten zu der Erden,
ein Engel muß des Trösters Tröster werden,
die Kreatur muß ihren Schöpfer stärken,
welchs wohl zu merken.

4 Was wir und Adam hatten übertreten,
das muß der unschuldigste Herr verbeten,
den scharfen Zorn, der über uns ergrimmet,
er hier vernimmet.

5 Der treulos Juedas sorglich rennt und laufet,
den Herren um ein schnödes Geld verkaufet,
gibt drauf der Rott die Losung durch sein Grüßen
und flasches Küssen.

6 Die da mit Spieß und Stangen fertig stunden,
führten ihn mit vor Caiphas gebunden,
da er um seine Lehre wird gefraget
und hart verklaget.

7 In dessen Mund auch kein Betrug gefunden,
der wird durch falsches Zeugniß überwunden,
er wird verspott, verspeiet und verhöhnet,
mit Dorn gekrönet.

8 Er wird gepeitsch mit dicht geflochten Riemen,
der Rücken lag blutrünstig voller Striemen,
von seinem Haupt, mit Dornenwund gestoßen,
Blutstropfen flossen.

9 Blutig ward er zum Schauspiel umgeführet,
mit einem Purpur nur zum Spott gezieret,
höhnisch gegrüßt, man speit ihm ins Gesichte,
und ihn vernichte.

10 Er ward verurtheilt und ans Kreuz gehenket,
mit Essig und mit bittrer Gall getränket;
zuletzt schon, als sein Geist sich von ihm machet,
ward er verlachet.

11 Wir sollen nicht ihn sondern uns beklagen.
Ach freilich wir, wir haben ihn geschlagen ans Holz,
weil Adam von dem Baum den Schaden
ihm aufgeladen.

12 Ach, unsre Sünde ist Ursach seiner Wunden,
wir haben ihn mit selbgen angebunden;
wir hätten ewig, ewig, ewig müssen
dies alles büßen.

13 Herr Jesu, dir, dir soll man Dank erweisen,
für die Erlösung soll man stets dich preisen;
doch kann es keines Menschen Witz ausdenken,
was dir zu schenken.

14 Nimm dies so lang, was meine Lippen singen,
bis du mich an der Engel Chor wirst bringen;
daselbst will ich dein Lob in jenem Leben
völlig erheben.

15. Hilf, Jesu, daß ich Gott auch meine Seele,
wie du gethan, an meinem End befehle,
daß ich mag selig auf dein Blut und Namen
einschlafen.  Amen.

Aus dem Dresdener Kirchen- und Hausbuch von 1694.
My prose translation:
1 Come here and look, come, let us from the heart
Consider the suffering, anguish, and pains of Christ:
He treads the wine press of God; what I mean,
Truly alone.

2 Oh see, how He becomes worried from our sins;
He must, like a worm, writhe on the Mount of Olives
So that for Him the sweat of death, with which He wrestles,
Comes out bloody.

3 God Himself falls to the ground here in the garden;
An angel must become comforter of the Comforter;
The creature must strengthen his Creator,
Which it is well to notice.

4 What we and Adam had violated
The most innocent Lord must atone for,
The sharp fury that was enranged with us
He takes here.

5 Unfaithful Judas worriedly runs and rushes
In order to sell the Lord for filthy lucre,
Then gives the signal to the mob through his greeting
And false kiss.

6 Those there with spear and rods stood ready,
Led Him bound before Caiaphas,
Where He was questioned about His teaching
And severely tried.

7 In Whose mouth also no deceit is found,
Who will be overcome by false testimony,
He will be mockt, spot upon, and derided,
Crowned with thorns.

8 He was whipped with thickly twisted straps;
His back was gory, full of welts;
From His head, poked with thorn wounds,
Drops of blood streamed.

9 Bloody, He was led to the spectable,
Adorned with a purple cloak only for ridicule,
Disdainfully greeted; one spat in His face
And crushed Him.

10 He was sentenced and hung on the cross,
Given vinegar and bitter gall to drink;
Even at the last, as His spirit was going from Him,
He was laughed at.

11 We should grieve not for Him but for us.
Oh, of course, we, we have driven Him into the wood
Because Adam has loaded Him
With the tree of injury.

12 Oh, our sin is the cause of His wounds;
We have tied Him up with [selbgen];
We would have to suffer eterally, eternally, eternally
For all this.

13 Lord Jesus, to You, to You one should show thanks;
For redemption, one should constantly praise You;
Yet the wit of no man can work out
What to give You.

14 Take this that my lips sing
Until You will bring me to the choir of angels;
There, in that life, I want
To lift up Your praise completely.

15 Help, Jesus, that, as You did,
I also commend my soul to God at my end,
That I may fall asleep blessed
In Your blood and name.  Amen.

From the Dresden Church- and House-book from 1694.
I'm not sure that "How He becomes worried" is the best translation for "wie angst wird ihm" in the second verse.  In the same verse, the phrase "like a worm" seems to come from Psalm 22:8.

I have to give credit to my German dictionary for the phrase "filthy lucre," which I used in the fifth verse as a translation of "schnödes Geld."

The line "In dessen Mund auch kein Betrug gefunden" ("In Whose mouth also no deceit is found") in the seventh verse comes from part of 1 Peter 2:22:  "in dessen Mund sich kein Betrug fand" ("Neither was deceit found in his mouth").

I'm not sure that "as His spirit was going from Him" in the tenth verse is the best way to translate "als sein Geist sich von ihm machet."  I'm not quite sure what sense machet has here, and my translation is based more on the context than anything else.  In the same verse, I had to change "mit Essig und mit bittrer Gall getränket" a bit because there really isn't an English word for getränket.  The food equivalent is fed, as in "I fed him," but as far as I know, there's no corresponding word for drinks.  Anyway, I translated it as "Given vinegar and bitter gall to drink."

I couldn't find a translation for "selbgen" in the twelfth verse, so I just left it in brackets in my translation.

As far as I can tell, this hymn isn't present in The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, or The Lutheran Service Book.  According to the Gesangbuch, the text is sung to the tune "Herzliebster Jesu, was hast."  Here's the TLH arrangement: