"Herr Zebaoth, dein heilges" (#173)

German text in the Gesangbuch:

1 Herr Zebaoth, dein heilgens Wort,

welchs du uns hast gegeben,

daß wir darnach an allem Ort

solln richten Lehr und Leben,

ist worden kund

aus deinem Mund

und in der Schrift beschrieben rein,

schlecht und recht

durch deine Knecht,

vom Heilgen Geist getrieben.

2 Dies Wort, welchs jetzt in Schriften steht,

ist fest und unbeweglich;

zwar Himmel und die Erd vergeht,

gotts Wort bleibt aber ewig;

kein Höll, kein Plag,

noch jüngster Tag

vermag es zu vernichten,

drum denen soll

sein ewig wohl,

die sich darnach recht richten.

3 Es ist vollkommen, hell und klar,

die Nichtschnur reiner Lehre;

es zeigt uns auch ganz offenbar

Gott, sein Dienst und Ehre

und wie man soll

hier leben wohl,

Lieb, Hoffnung, Glauben üben;

drum fort und fort

wir dieses Wort

von Herzen sollen lieben.

4 Im Kreuz gibts Luft [sic], in Traurigkeit

zeigt es die Freudenquelle;

den Sünder, dem sein Sünd ist leid,

entführet es der Hölle,

gibt Trost an Hand

und macht bekannt,

wie man soll willig sterben,

und wie zugleich

das Himmelreich

durch Christum zu ererben.

5 Sieh, solchen Nutz, so große Kraft,

die nimmer ist zu schätzen,

des Herrn Wort in uns wirkt und schafft,

darum wir sollen setzen

zurück Gold, Geld,

und was die Welt

sonst herrlich pflegt zu achten,

und jederzeit

in Lieb und Leid

nach dieser Perle trachten.

6 Nun, Herr, erhalt dein heilig Wort,

laß uns sein Kraft empfinden,

den Feinden steur an allem Ort

und laß es frei verkünden,

so wollen wir

dir für und für

von ganzen Herzen danken.

Herr, unser Hort,

laß uns dein Wort

fest halten und nicht wanken!

My prose translation:

1 Lord of hosts, Your holy word,

Which You have given us,

According to which we in every place

Should direct [our] teaching and life,

Is declared

Out of Your mouth

And in the purely written script,

Badly and rightly

By Your servants,

Driven by the Holy Ghost.

2 This word, which now stands in writing,

Is firm and immovable;

Indeed, heaven and the earth pass away;

God's word, however, remains eternally;

No hell, no plague,

Nor Judgement Day

Is able to eradicate it

Therefore they

Should be eternal

Who rightly direct themselves according to it.

3 It is perfect, bright and clear,

The [Nichtschnur] of pure teaching;

It shows us too quite clearly

God, His service and glory,

And how one should

Live well here;

Practice love, hope, faith;

Therefore continually

We should love

This word from the heart.

4 In the cross there is pleasure; in sadness

It shows the source of joy;

It abducts the sinner who is sorry for his sin

From hell,

Gives comfort on hand

And makes known

How one should willingly die

And at the same time

How to inherit

The kingdom of heaven through Christ.

5 Look, such benefit, such great strength

That is never to be treasured;

The word of the Lord works and is active in us

Therefore we should set

Behind gold, money,

And whatever the world

Otherwise marvelously tends to pay attention to,

And [we should] always

In love and suffering

Strive after this pearl.

6 Now, Lord, preserve Your holy word;

Let us feel its strength;

Drive the enemy from every place;

And let it be announced freely

So we want

Forever

To thank You from our whole heart.

Lord, our refuge,

Let us

Firmly hold Your word and not waver!

The lines "zwar Himmel und die Erd vergeht, / Gotts Wort bleibt aber ewig" in the second verse seem to be drawn from Luke 21:33:  "'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.'"

I couldn't find a translation for "Nichtschnur" in the third verse.  The group "love, hope, and faith" seems to be drawn from 1 Corinthians 13:13.  At the end of the verse (and at the end of the fourth verse), I had to shuffle some elements to get a smoother English translation.

While the f and medial s are sometimes difficult to distinguish in the Gothic German script, I'm pretty sure the text does read "Im Kreuz gibts Luft" at the beginning of the fourth verse.  Obviously, this is an error, though, since "In the cross there is air" doesn't make any sense.

I also had to shuffle some elements in the shorter lines near the end of the sixth verse.

There are no author or time data accompanying this text.

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 TLH arrangement:

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