Sunday, November 12, 2023

"Wir singen all mit" (#114)

German text in the Gesangbuch:
1 Wir singen all
mit Freudenschall
vom Krieg und Sieg des Herren.
Heut triumphirt
der große Hirt,
Christ, der König der Ehren.
All unsre Feind
erleget seind,
keiner konnt ihm entkommen.
Der Herre Christ
erstanden ist,
das bringt uns ewig Frommen.

2 Die Christenheit
ist nun befreit,
der Teufel ist gefangen,
der uns verklagt,
ist gar verzagt,
zertreten ist die Schlange.
Und ob auch schon
der Gottessohn
ist in die Fers gestochen,
so lebt er doch
und sieget noch,
durch ihn sind wir gerochen.

3 Des G'setzes Macht
hat auf uns bracht
der Sünden Last mit Haufen;
der Sündennoth,
dazu dem Tod
nicht konnten wir entlaufen;
der Seelen Qual
war überall,
da thät der Herr uns scheiden.
Dank sei dem Herrn,
der uns zu Ehrn
gebracht hat durch sein Leiden.

4 Der Höllen Grund,
des Todes Schlund
uns dräuten zu verschlingen.
Da hielt ein Schlacht
des Lebens Macht;
verschlang den Tod im Ringen;
dem höllschen Drach
sein Schloß zerbrach,
wir Christen sind entkommen:
aus ist der Krieg,
wir habn den Sieg
durch Jesum Christ genommen.

5 Ihr Christen gut,
habt frischen Muth,
den Raub habn wir bekommen;
Gerechtigkeit
ist unser Beut,
wir sind der Furcht entnommen.
Hie ist die Beut,
Gerechtigkeit
nun sind wir Gottes Kinder.
Drum singn wir all
mit Freudenschall:
Dank sei dem Ueberwinder!

Georg Reimann, +1615.
My prose translation:
1 We all sing
With resounding joy
Of the war and victory of the Lord.
To-day triumphs
The great Shepherd,
Christ, the King of glory.
All of our enemies
Are defeated;
No one can escape Him.
The Lord Christ
Is risen;
That brings us eternal hope.

2 Christendom
Is now freed;
The devil is caught;
He who accused us
Has completely despaired;
The serpent is tread upon.
And although
The Son of God
Is stung in the heel,
Yet He lives
And is still victorious;
Through Him we are acceptable.

3 The power of the law
Has brought on us
The burden of sin in heaps;
The misery of sin,
In addition to death,
We could not escape;
The agony of the soul
Was everywhere
Because the Lord was separated from us.
Thanks be to the Lord,
Who has brought us to glory
By His suffering.

4 The foundations of hell,
The jaws of death
Threatened to devour us.
There was a battle
Of the power of life;
Death was swallowed in the wrestling;
The hellish dragon's
Castle was crushed;
We Christians have escaped;
The war is over;
We have the victory
Through Jesus Christ.

5 You good Christians,
Have fresh courage;
We have received the treasure;
Righteousness is our treasure;
We are taken out of fear.
Here is the treasure,
Righteousness;
Now we are God's children.
Therefore we all sing
With resounding joy:
Thanks be to the Conquerer!

Georg Reimann, +1615.
The title "the great Shepherd" in the first verse recalls the "Good Shepherd" in John 10, and the title "the King of glory" appears in Psalm 24:8, 10.  I'm not sure that "hope" is the best translation for "Frommen," but I couldn't find anything more exact.

The second verse refers to part of Genesis 3:15 ("'he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel'").  I not very confident in my translation of "sind wir gerochen" as "we are acceptable."  I think "gerochen" comes from the verb riechen, which in other circumstances means "to smell."  I found a secondary meaning of "be able to stand," in the sense of tolerate, and that's what I based my translation on.

I'm not very confident in my translation of "da thät der Herr uns scheiden" as "Because the Lord was separated from us" in the third verse.

The only translations my dictionary provides for "Raub" and "Beut[e]" (in the fifth verse) have a more negative connotation (spoils, booty, loot), so to avoid this, I translated both simply as "treasure."

As far as I can tell, this hymn isn't in The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, or The Lutheran Service Book.  According to the Gesangbuch, the text is sung to the tune "O Herre Gott, dein göttlich [Wort]."  Here's the arrangement from TLH:


And here's an arrangement from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalishes Lieder-Buch: