Sunday, November 10, 2024

"Ach Gott vom Himmel, sieh" (#166)

German text in the Gesangbuch:
1 Ach Gott vom Himmel, sieh darein
und laß dich des erbarmen:
wie wenig sind der Heilgen dein,
verlassen sind wir Armen.
Dein Wort man nicht läßt haben wahr,
der Glaub ist auch verloschen gar
bei allen Menschenkindern.

2 Sie lehren eitel falsche List,
was eigen Witz erfindet;
ihr Herz nicht eines Sinnes ist,
in Gottes Wort gegründet.
Der wählet dies, der ander das,
sie trennen uns ohn alle Maß
und gleißen schön von außen.

3 Gott wollt ausrotten alle Lahr,
die falschen Schein uns lehren,
darzu ihr Zung stolz offenbar
spricht:  Trotz, wer wills uns wehren?
Wir haben Recht uns Macht allein,
was wir setzen, das gilt gemein;
wer ist, der uns soll meistern?

4 Darum spricht Gott: ich muß auf sein,
die Armen sind verstöret,
ihr Seufzen dringt zu mir herein
ich hab ihr Klag erhöret.
Mein heilsam Wort soll auf den Plan,
getrost und frisch sie griefen an
und sein die Kraft der Armen.

5 Das Silber, durchs Feur siebenmal
bewährt, wird lauter funden;
am Gotteswort man warten soll
desgleichen alle Stunden;
es will durchs Kreuz bewähret sein,
da wird sein Kraft erkannt und Schein
und leucht stark in die Lande.

6 Das wollst du, Gott, bewahren rein
für diesem argen G'schlechte,
und laß uns dir befohlen sein,
daß sichs in uns nicht flechte.
Der gottlos Hauf sich umher findt,
wo diese lose Leute sind
in deinem Volk erhaben.

Ps. 12. Dr. M. Luther, 1524.
My prose translation:
1 O God from Heaven, look in
And let Yourself have mercy:
How few are Your holy ones;
We poor are lost.
One does not let [us] have Your word true;
Faith has also been completely extinguished
With all the children of men.

2 They teach vain, false cunning
That makes up its own joke;
Their heart is not of one mind,
Grounded in God's word.
One chooses this; an-other that;
They divide us without any moderation
And gleam beautifully on the outside.

3 God wants to wipe out all [Lahr]
Who teach us false appearances,
To which their proud tongue plainly
Speaks:  Defiance, who will resist us?
We alone have authority and might;
What we set up really counts;
Who is there who should master us?

4 Therefore God speaks:  I must be up;
The poor are distraught;
Their sighing reaches me here;
I have heard their lament.
My salutary word should [be] on the plain,
Touch them safely and freshly,
And be the strength of the poor.

5 The silver, tested seven times by the fire,
Will be found pure;
On God's word one should
Likewise wait at all hours;
It will be proven through the cross,
Where its power and appearance will be recognized
And shine strongly in the land.

6 God, You want to keep that pure
For this wicked generation,
And let us be commanded by You
So that it is not twisted in us.
The godless swarm finds itself around,
Where these malicious people are
Elevated into Your nation.

Ps. 12. Dr. M. Luther, 1524.
I had some troubles with the third verse.  1) I couldn't find a translation for "Lahr."  I think it may mean something like teacher or doctrine, but I was sufficiently unsure just to leave it in brackets.  2) I don't understand how "Trotz" functions in the clause "Trotz, wer wills uns wehren?"  It can't be a preposition because it's not followed by an object, but it seems strange to have a noun set apart by itself here.  I translated the clause as "Defiance, who will resist us?" but I'm not very confident about it.  I'm not sure I really understood "wer wills uns wehren" either.  3) I'm pretty sure that "stolz" in the line "darzu ihr Zung stolz offenbar / spricht..." could function as either an adverb ("proudly") or a post-positive adjective ("proud").  Since there's already an adverb in the clause ("offenbar," "plainly"), I went with the latter and translated it as "To which their proud tongue plainly / Speaks...."

This hymn appears as "O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#260), but as far as I can tell, it's not in Lutheran Worship or The Lutheran Service Book.  In TLH, and as the Gesangbuch notes, the text is sung to "its own tune."  Here's the TLH arrangement:


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