"Dreifaltig-heilig großer G." (#168)

This is the first hymn in a sub-section of "Of the Word of God and of the Christian Church":  "Bei der Einweihung einer Kirche" ("At the Consecration of a Church").

German text in the Gesangbuch:

1 Dreifaltig-heilig großer Gott,

schau doch von deiner Höhe,

wie hier vor dir, Herr Zebaoth,

dein armes Häuflein stehe;

merk auf das Seufzen und Gebet,

das wir von dieser heilgen Stätt

vor deinen Thron dir bringen.

2 Wir haben dieses Gotteshaus

gebauet deinem Namen,

mit dir ist es gezieret aus,

daß wir samt unserm Samen

die heilge Satzung und dein Wort

an diesem dir geweihten Ort

zur Seelen Heil anhören.

3 Der Grund ist selber Jesus Christ,

Apostel und Propheten,

ihr Wort der Pfeiler Grundvest ist,

darauf in allen Nöthen,

wie hoch die List der Feinde geht,

die Gottesstadt doch lustig steht

mir ihrem Zionsbrunnen.

4 Hier wolln wir unsre Kinderlein

dir in der Taufe schenken,

die Katechismuslehre rein

in ihre Herzen senken,

sie in des wahren Glaubens Frucht,

in deiner Furcht, in Christenzucht

als Himmelspflanzen ziehen.

5 Hier wollen wir in wahrer Reu,

auf tiefgebognen Knieen,

die Sünden berichten ohne Scheu

und hier zum Kreuze fliehen,

abbitten die blutrothe Schuld,

Vergebung suchen, Gnad und Huld

in Christi Blut und Wunden.

6 Beim heilgen Altar werden sich

die müden Seelen laben,

da unser Heiland, Jesus Christ,

uns Sünder will begaben

mit seinem wahren Leib und Blut,

in Tod gegeben uns zu gut

und uns zum Heil vergossen.

7 Hier segnet man den Ehstand ein,

man bittet für die Kranken;

dies Haus wird stets erfüllet sein

mit Loben und mit Danken;

hier wird man den Regierungsstand,

Kirch, Schulen, Häuser, Stadt und Land

dir täglich anempfehlen.

8 Herr, hebe nun zu segnen an

dies Haus, nach dir genennet,

daß es kein Feind zerstören kann,

wie hoch sein Eifer brennet.

Stör alles, was uns stören will,

laß uns in dieser Zionstill

dich sonder Ende loben.

9 Lob, Ehr und Dank und Herrlichkeit

sei dir, o Herr, gesungen,

daß bei der letzbetrübten Zeit

es uns so weit gelungen.

Gib, daß, was wir jetzt fangen an,

nicht eher Ende nehmen kann,

bis Erd und Himmel brechen.

Hans von Assig, +1694.

My prose translation:

1 Great, thrice-holy God,

Look from your height

How here before You, Lord of hosts,

Your poor crowd stands;

Pay attention to the sighing and prayer

That we from this holy place

Bring to You before Your throne.

2 We have built this house of God

For Your Name; with You is it adorned,

So that together with our offspring

We [may] hear the holy statutes and Your word

In this placed dedicated to You,

For the salvation of the soul.

3 The foundation is Jesus Christ Himself;

Apostles and prophets,

Their word is the foundation of the pillars;

On it in all distress,

However high the cunning of the foe goes,

The city of God still stands merrily

With its springs of Zion.

4 Here we want to give our little children

To You in baptism,

To sink the pure doctrine of the catechism

Into their hearts,

To draw them into the fruit of the true faith,

Into the fear of You, into Christian discipline

As plants of Heaven.

5 Here we want, in true repentance,

On deeply bent knees,

To repent our sin without timidity

And here flee to the cross,

To ask pardon for the blood-red guilt,

To seek forgiveness, mercy, and grace

In Christ's blood and wounds.

6 At the holy altar

Will the tired souls be revived,

Where our Savior, Jesus Christ,

Wants us sinners to go,

With His true body and blood,

Given in death for our good

And shed for our salvation.

7 Here one blesses marriage;

One prays for the sick;

This house will always be filled

With praise and with thanks;

Here will one 

Daily commend to You

The government, church, schools, houses, city, and country.

8 Lord, rise now to bless

This house, named after You,

So that no enemy can destroy it,

However high his zeal burns.

Disrupt everything that wants to disturb us;

Let us in this calm of Zion

Praise You without end.

9 Praise, honor, and thanks and splendor

Be sung to You, O Lord,

That in the last, troubled time

It succeeds for us so widely.

Grant that what we now begin

Cannot take a sooner end

Until Earth and Heaven break.

Hans von Assig, +1694.

The line "die Sünden berichten ohne Scheu" in the fifth verse is literally something like "to tell of the sin without timidity," but based on the context, I translated "berichten" as "repent."  I also supplied a possessive adjective in place of the definite article ("our sin" instead of just "the sin").

I shuffled around some elements in the last few lines of the seventh verse to get a smoother English translation.

The verb "stören" appears twice in the eighth verse, but I translated it differently, first as "disrupt" and then as "disturb."  I translated "Zionstill" as "calm of Zion," but I'm not sure this is entirely accurate.  I also translated "sonder" as "without" based more on the context than anything else (although it seems to be a cognate with the Dutch zonder, which means without).  I couldn't find a prepositional use of the word in my dictionary.

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 "Es ist das Heil uns kommen [her]."  Here's the TLH arrangement:

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