Sunday, July 7, 2024

"Mein Mund soll fröhlich" (#148)

German text in the Gesangbuch:
1 Mein Mund soll fröhlich preisen,
mein Herz soll früh und spat
dem Herren Ehr beweisen,
der uns erschaffen hat,
dem billig jederzeit
sein Lob und Ruhm bei allen
ganz herrlich soll erschallen
in aller Christenheit.

2 Sein Nam an jedem Orte
ist heilig und bekannt,
mit seinem Geist und Worte
erleucht er See und Land,
erneuert uns im Geist
und reinigt uns von Sünden,
macht uns zu Gottes Kindern,
den Weg zum Himmel weist.

3 Kein Mensch das Leben hätte,
könnt auch nicht selig sein,
wanns seine Kraft nicht thäte,
sein ist die Ehr allein.
Wer nicht aus seiner Gnad
von neuem wird geboren,
muß ewig sein verloren,
kein Theil am Himmel hat.

4 Erhalt mich, Herr, im Glauben,
daß ich an deinem Leib,
wie am Weinstock die Trauben,
fruchtbar und fest bekleib.
Mein Herz, Sinn und Gemüth
erneure und regiere,
mein Zunge selbst auch führe,
also zu singen mit:

5 Ehr sei dem Vater oben
im allerhöchsten Thron,
Ehr sei mit Dank und Loben
seim allerliebsten Sohn,
Ehr sei zu aller Zeit
dem Heilgen Geist gesungen
in allen Volk und Zungen,
heut und in Ewigkeit.

Georg Weissel, +1635.
My prose translation:
1 My mouth should cheerfully praise,
My heart should early and late
Show glory to the Lord,
Who has created us;
Fairly, at all times
His praise and glory with all
Should resound quite marvellously
In all Christendom.

2 His Name in every place
Is holy and known,
With His Spirit and Word
He illumines sea and land,
Renews us in spirit
And purifies us from sin,
Makes us God's children,
Shows the way to Heaven.

3 No man would have life,
Could not be holy either
If it were not done by His strength;
His alone is the glory.
He who is not born anew
Out of His mercy
Must be lost eternally;
[He] has no part in Heaven.

4 Preserve me, Lord, in faith
So that like grapes on the vine
I take root in Your body
Fruitfully and firmly.
Renew and govern
My heart, sense, and mind;
Also lead my tongue
So that I sing along:

5 Glory be to the Father above
On the highest throne;
Glory be with thanks and praise
To His dearest Son;
Glory be sung for all time
To the Holy Ghost
By all people and tongues,
To-day and into eternity.

Georg Weissel, +1635.
"Früh und spat" ("early and late") in the first verse is a temporal merism.  Spät is purposely altered so that it rhymes with "hat" in a later line.

I'm not confident in my translation of "dem billig" as "fairly."  Usually, I would translate "billig" as cheap, but that certainly doesn't fit the context here.  My dictionary suggests "just" and "fair," but I think those are more in a commercial sense of trade or bartering.  The preceding "dem" indicates that it's in the dative case, which I can't make any sense out of.

I had to shuffle some lines in the fourth verse to get a smoother English translation.  The image of the vine is similar to that in John 15:5.

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 "Helft mir Gotts Güte pr[eisen]."  Here's the TLH arrangement: