"Mensch, willt du leben" (#181)

German text in the Gesangbuch:

1 Mensch, willt du leben seliglich

und bei Gott bleiben ewiglich,

sollt du halten die zehn Gebot,

die uns gebeut unser Gott.

Kyrieleis.

2 Dein Gott allein und Herr bit ich,

kein ander Gott soll irren dich,

trauen soll mir des Herze dein,

mein eigen Reich sollt du sein,

Kyrieleis.

3 Du sollt mein Namen ehren schon

und in der Noth mich rufen an,

du sollt heilgen den Sabbathtag,

daß ich in dir wirken mag.

Kyrieleis.

4 Dem Vater und der Mutter dein

sollt du nach mir gehorsam sein,

niemand tödten, noch zorning sein

und deine Eh halten rein.

Kyrieleis.

5 Du sollt eim andern stehlen nicht,

auf niemand Falsches zeugen nicht,

deines Nächsten Weib nicht begehrn

und all seins Guts gern entbehrn.

Kyrieleis.

Dr. M. Luther, 1525.

My prose translation:

1 Man, [if] you want to live blessedly

And remain with God eternally,

You should keep the Ten Commandments,

Which our God commanded us.

Kyrie eleison.

2 I alone am Your God and Lord;

You should mistake no other God;

Your heart should trust Me;

You should be My own kingdom.

Kyrie eleison.

3 You should honor My Name

And call upon Me in distress;

You should hold the Sabbath day sacred

So that I may work in you.

Kyrie eleison.

4 To your father and your mother

You should be obedient, according to Me,

Kill no one, not be angry,

And keep your marriage pure,

Kyrie eleison.

5 You should not steal from an-other,

Not testify something false about anyone,

Not desire the wife of your neighbor,

And gladly do without all his property.

Kyrie eleison.

Dr. M. Luther, 1525.

I'm not very confident in my translation of "kein ander Gott soll irren dich" in the second verse as "You should mistake no other God."  The verb "irren" means "mistake" or "go astray," but this didn't seem to make sense with the nouns in what cases they are, so I inverted them:  "kein ander Gott" is nominative, but I made it the accusative "no other God, and "dich" is accusative, but I made it the nominative "you."  Basically, I translated the line based more on my familiarity with the Ten Commandments than on what the actual hymn text says.

I translated "nach mir" in the fourth verse as "according to Me," but I think it may also have a sense of "as to Me" (something like:  "You should be obedient to your father and your mother as you would be obedient to Me").

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 "its own or the previous tune," which was "Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot."

There's a tune in Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch that has the same title as this text (provided I'm reading Telemann's handwriting correctly), but I'm not sure it's the tune this text is sung to (because there seem to be many more notes than syllables).  In any case, here's that tune: