Sunday, June 9, 2024

"Gelobet sei der Herr" (#144)

German text in the Gesangbuch:
1 Gelobet sei der Herr,
mein Gott, mein Licht, mein Leben,
mein Schöpfer, der mir hat
mein Leib und Seel gegeben,
mein Vater, der mich schützt
von Mutterleibe an,
der alle Augenblick
viel Guts an mir gethan.

2 Gelobet sei der Herr,
mein Gott, mein Heil, mein Leben,
des Vaters liebster Sohn,
der sich für mich gegeben,
der mich erlöset hat
mit seinem theuren Blut,
der mir im Glauben schenkt
das allerhöchste Gut.

3 Gelobet sei der Herr,
mein Gott, mein Trost, mein Leben,
des Vaters werther Geist,
den mir der Sohn gegeben,
der mir mein Herz erquickt,
der mir gibt neue Kraft,
der mir in aller Noth
Rath, Trost und Hilfe schafft.

4 Gelobet sei der Herr,
mein Gott, der ewig lebet,
den alles lobet, was
in allen Lüften schwebet;
gelobet sei der Herr,
des Namen heilig heißt,
Gott Vater, Gott der Sohn
und Gott der werthe Geist.

5 Dem wir das Heilig jetzt
mit Freuden lassen klingen
und mit der Engel Schar
das Heilig! Heilig! singen,
den herzlich lobt und preist
die ganze Christenheit,
gelobet sei mein Gott
in alle Ewigkeit.

Dr. J. Olearius, 1671.
My prose translation:
1 May the Lord be praised,
My God, my Light, my Life,
My Creator, Who has given me
My body and soul,
My Father, Who protects me
From the womb on,
Who has done much good for me
Every moment.

2 May the Lord be praised,
My God, my Salvation, my Life,
The dearest Son of the Father,
Who has given Himself for me,
Who has redeemed me
With His precious blood,
Who gives to me in faith
The highest good.

3 May the Lord be praised,
My God, my Comfort, my Life,
Worthy Spirit of the Father,
Whom the Son has given to me,
Who revives my heart,
Who gives me new strength,
Who gives me counsel, comfort, and help
In all distress.

4 May the Lord be praised,
My God, Who lives eternally,
Who is praised by everything
That soars in the air;
May the Lord be praised,
Whose Name is called holy,
God the Father, God the Son,
And God the worthy Spirit.

5 To Whom we now
With joy let sound the holy [chorus]
And with the company of angels
Sing, "Holy! Holy!"
Whom all Christendom
Praises and extols;
May my God be praised
In all eternity.

Dr. J. Olearius, 1671.
I shuffled some elements around in the first and third verses to get smoother translations.

The lines "der mich erlöset hat / mit seinem theuren Blut" ("Who has redeemed me / With His precious blood") in the second verse seem to be drawn from 1 Peter 1:18-19:  "18 denn ihr wißt, daß ihr nicht mit vergänglichen Silber oder Gold erlöst seid von eurem nichtigen Wandel nach der Väter Weise, 19 sondern mit dem teuren Blut Christi als eines unschuldigen und unbefleckten Lammes."  (18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.)  With this passage in mind, I translated "theuren" as "precious," although I would normally translate it as expensive (which doesn't quite fit this context anyway).

The lines "den alles lobet, was / in allen Lüften schwebet" in the third verse are actually something like "Whom everything praises that / In all airs soars," but I made some changes (principally flipping it from active to passive voice) and rendered this as "Who is praised by everything / That soars in the air."

I'm not sure how the first "Heilig" in the fifth verse functions.  I understood it as a substantive and supplied "chorus" after it, but, like the following two "Heilig"s, it could be direct speech, something like "To Whom we now / With joy let sound the 'Holy.'"  I felt this wasn't as easy to understand, though.

This hymn appears as "The Lord, My God, Be Praised" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#38), Lutheran Worship (#174), and The Lutheran Service Book (#794), although the LW and LSB versions omit the last verse.  In all of these, and as the Gesangbuch notes, the text is sung to the tune "Nun danket alle Gott."  Here's the TLH arrangement: