Parts of this hymn are drawn from Romans 8, the second stanza from verses 35-36 and the fourth through fifth from verses 38-39. I shuffled some elements in the fifth verse to get a smoother English translation.
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 "Herzlich thut mich verlang[en]." Here's the TLH arrangement:
Distress, the world, sin, the devil, hell, and death.
Joh. Rist, +1667.
The phrase "aus der Maßen" in the first verse is literally something like "out of measurement," but I translated it as "exceedingly."
I had to shuffle some elements near the beginning of the fifth verse, in the middle of the sixth verse, and at the end of the seventh verse to get smoother English translations.
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 "Nun freut euch, lieben Chr[isten g'mein]." Here's the TLH arrangement:
And here's an arrangement from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
With high exultation for the sake of this goodness
Be to God Father, Son, [and] Holy Ghost,
Who will with mercy fulfill
What He has begun in us
To the glory of His majesty
So that His Name will be holy.
14 His kingdom come; His will on earth
Be done, as in the throne of Heaven;
[May] the daily bread be still for us to-day;
Forgive well our guilt,
As we also do to our trespassers;
Make us not stand in temptation;
Loose us from the evil one, Amen.
Paul Speratus, 1523.
I'm not sure my translations of the second through fourth verses are entirely accurate, and there are sections of the sixth, eighth, and twelfth verses I'm not sure I completely understood. I couldn't find a translation for "Gleißners" in the fourth verse.
Likewise, I couldn't find a translation for "kreuch" in the ninth verse. I translated it as "cling" based solely on the context.
The line "was er in uns ang'fangen hat" "What He has begun in us" in the thirteenth verse seems to refer to Philippians 1:6: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
Much of the fourteenth verse comes from Matthew 6:10-13.
This hymn appears (in abbreviated forms) as "Salvation unto Us Has Come" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#377), Lutheran Worship (#355), and The Lutheran Service Book (#555). In all of these, and as the Gesangbuch notes, the text is sung to "its own tune." Here's the arrangement from TLH:
(I had to use an earlier appearance of the tune in the hymnal. #377 was actually the next tune I'd intended to record in November 2024 when I started having computer issues and was forced to stop that project.)
And here's an arrangement from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
1 Through Adam's fall are Human nature and being completely corrupted; The same poison is come into us So that we cannot recover Without the comfort of God, Who has redeemed us From the great damage In which the serpent Defeated [Hevam], To invite God's wrath upon himself.
2 Because the serpent has brought [Hevam] So that it is broken away from God's word, Which it despises, Through it, it has to us all Brought death, Such was ever distress, So that even God should give to us His dear Son, The Throne of mercy, In Whom we can live.
3 Just as a foreign guilt In Adam mocked us all now, So has a foreign grace In Christ reconciled us all, And just as we all Through Adam's fall Have died an eternal death, So has God Through the death of Christ Renewed that which was corrupted.
4 So then He has given us His Son While we were yet His enemy, [His Son] Who was hung on the cross for us, Killed, [and] ascended to Heaven, Through Whom we are Redeemed From death and suffering, So we trust in this refuge, This Word of the Father: Who will dread death?
5 He is the Way, the Light, the Gate, The Truth, and the Life, The Counsel of the Father and eternal Word, Whom He has given to us As a protection So that with defense we Should firmly believe in Him; Therefore No power nor violence Will soon snatch us out of His hand.
6 Man is godless and wicked; His salvation is also still [ferren], Who seeks comfort with other people And not with God the Lord; For he who wants To set a different goal for himself Without this Comforter, May quite soon Be shocked by The violence of the devil, with his cunning.
7 He who hopes in God and trusts in Him Will never come to shame; For he who builds on this rock While many accidents may occur To him here Yet have I never Seen the man fall Who relies On God's comfort; He helps all His faithful ones.
8 I ask, O Lord, from the bottom of my heart That You will not take Your holy Word out of my mouth So that my sin and guilt Will not shame me, For in Your grace Do I put all my trust He who firmly Relies upon it Will not look upon death.
9 To my feet is Your holy Word A burning lantern, A light that continously shows me the way; Thus as soon as this Morning Star Arises in us, People understand The high gifts That God's Spirit Certainly promises them, In which they have hope.
Lazarus Spengler, 1525.
I couldn't find a translation for "Hevam" in the first two verses.
The third verse has the same basic structure as 1 Corinthians 15:21-22: "21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."
Part of the fourth verse seems to reference Romans 5:8: "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The phrase "gen Himmel g'fahren" is literally just "gone to Heaven," but I translated it as "ascended to Heaven."
The fifth verse contains multiple allusions to John. The titles Way, Truth, and Life are from 14:6, Gate from 10:7, and Light from 8:12. The image of not being snatched out of God's hand also appears in John 10:28.
The first line of the sixth verse bears some resemblance to Psalms 14 and 53. I couldn't find a translation for "ferren." I flipt the last couple lines from active to passive voice to avoid a pleonasm ("He who wants to set a different goal for himself, the violence of the devil may quite soon shock him") and to fit English syntax better.
The image of a man building on a rock in the seventh verse seems to come from Matthew 7:24. I translated the lines "ab ihm gleich geht zu Handen / viel Unfalls hie" as "While many accidents may occur / To him here" more according to the general meaning than by the constituent words since I couldn't make sense of how some of them go together. I shuffled some elements here, too.
There's some resemblance between "du wollst nicht von mir nehmen / dein heiligs Wort aus meinem" Mund" "That You will not take / Your holy Word out of my mouth" in the eighth verse and part of Psalm 51:11: "take not your Holy Spirit from me." (It's Psalm 51:13 in German: "nimm deinen heiligen Geist nicht von mir.") I shuffled a couple lines in the middle of the verse for better English syntax.
I couldn't find a translation for "Lucerne" at the beginning of the ninth verse, but I'm pretty certain it means something along the lines of "lantern." The lines allude to Psalm 119:105 ("Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"), and the word itself seems to be related to the Latin lux (gen. lucis), which means light.
I'm not certain, but this hymn may appear as "All Mankind Fell in Adam's Fall" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#369), Lutheran Worship (#363), and The Lutheran Service Book (#562). Lazarus Spengler is credited as the author, and the TLH version lists the same first line ("Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt"). The versions in these hymnals are shorter than what's above, however (in terms of both number of verses and the length of each verse - four lines instead of ten). The hymnals all pair the text with "Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein," but according to the Gesangbuch, the text is sung to "its own tune."
Here are two arrangements from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
"To gladden the people of God!" For the Messiah is already here,
And salvation is near to all!
3 From now on, we see the Hero,
Who should come from Judah,
Whom God has provided
As the Salvation and pious One of all the world;
For He has prepared the blessedness
Of all sinners.
4 Oh, prepare the sinners!
This, this is what revives us
When the unrighteousness of our life
Almost overwhelms us,
When law, torment of the conscience,
And sins are powerful.
5 Be silent, law, and do not say:
"All sinners are lost";
Christ, our confidence,
Was, just as soon as He was born,
Put under the law.
What does your curse concern us now?
6 Sin and distress of the conscience,
Let us from now on be content
That you have separated
Us and our God from one an-other;
Look how through God's Child
We are united again.
7 Be silent, terrible world, [who claims]
"God would not be well-disposed toward man";
It is rubbish and deception,
Yes, at bottom absolutely not true;
But this is clear:
Our Comfort and Salvation is there.
8 Satan, fly and shuffle off;
God's Son has bound you.
Death, where is the sting in your heel?
Jesus has overcome you.
Hell, how has the war against us helpt you?
Here is the victory.
9 Thanks be to God in eternity,
Who lookt upon us mercifully
[And] in the fullness of His time
Sent His Child into the world
And through Him brought about
What makes men blessed.
10 Oh, grant, dear Child,
That we rejoice in You
When distress and trouble are found,
That we shun sin
And then also at the right time
Come to blessedness.
M. Joh. Joachim Moller.
The eighth verse contains a number of Biblical allusions. The line "God's Son has bound you" may refer to Mark 3:27: "'But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.'" The following line "Death, where is the sting in your heel?" alludes primarily to 1 Corinthians 15:55 ("'O death, where in your sting?'") but also hints at Genesis 3:15 ("'he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel'").
The line "In the fullness of His time" in the ninth verse alludes to Galatians 4:4-5: "4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."
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 "Jesus, meine Zuversicht." Here's the arrangement from TLH:
Heart, do you believe it, or do you not believe it?
Why do you want to act so stupidly?
If what the Scripture promises is truth
Then this also must be truth:
Out of mercy, Heaven is yours.
2 Out of mercy! - here merit is worth nothing;
One's own works fall down;
God, Who out of love has appeared in the flesh,
Brings us the blessed benefit
So that His death has brought us salvation
And out of mercy makes us blessed.
3 Out of mercy! - mark this word: out of mercy!
As often as your sin plagues you,
As often as Satan wants to harm you,
As often as your conscience gnaws at you.
What reason cannot grasp
God offers to you out of mercy.
4 Out of mercy His Son came to earth
And took over the burden of sin.
What compels Him to become your friend?
Say it where you have something to praise.
Was it not that He wants your best
And out of mercy should help you?
5 Out of mercy! - This foundation will remain
As long as God is honestly called upon.
What all servants of Jesus write,
What God in His word recommends,
On which all our faith rests,
Is mercy through the blood of the Lamb.
6 Out of mercy! - Yet, you sure sinner,
Think not: "Very well, I will seize it."
It is true that God calls Adam's children
By mercy to the promised rest
Yet by mercy He does not accept
Him who can sin against mercy.
7 Out of mercy! - He who has heard this word
Withdraws from all hypocrisy
For when the sinner turns
He learns first what mercy is;
While sinning, mercy appears insignificant;
While believing, it is a wonderful thing.
8 Out of mercy, the heart of the Father remains
Open to the stupid heart
When it under greater fear and pains
Sees nothing and can no longer hope.
From where would I often take strengthening
If mercy were not my anchor!
9 Out of mercy! - On this, I want to die;
I feel nothing, yet I am well;
I know my sinful ruination
Yet also that which should heal me.
My spirit is glad; the soul laughs
Because mercy makes me blessed.
10 Out of mercy! - Hear this, sin and devil:
I wave my flag of faith
And go comforted despite all doubt
Through the Red Sea to Canaan.
I believe what Jesus' word promises;
I feel it or feel it not.
C.L. Scheidt, 1742.
Anbeuten (which appears in the third verse as "beut'... an") isn't in my dictionary. An unsubstantiated internet search claimed that it means "to offer," which does seem to fit this context, so that's what I went with.
I translated "auf Gnade sündgen kann" at the end of the sixth verse as "can sin against mercy," but I'm not sure this is entirely accurate.
I shuffled some elements in the first two lines of the eighth verse to accommodate English syntax better.
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 "Wer weiß, wie nahe mir." Here's the TLH arrangement (transposed from Ab major to G major):
The first verse begins the same way as John 3:16. The assonance and rhyme that are maintained from one word to the next in the phrase "ewig selig" ("eternally blessed") suggest this temporal continuation.
The last part of the second verse bears some resemblance to Matthew 7:24-27, specifically the man who built his house on the rock.
This hymn appears as "God Loved the World So That He Gave" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#245), Lutheran Worship (#352), and The Lutheran Service Book (#571). In TLH and LSB, the text is paired with the tune "St. Crispin," and in LW, it's paired with "Die helle Sonn leucht," but according to the Gesangbuch, it's sung to "Herr Jesu Christ, meins." Here's the TLH arrangement (transposed from Bb major to C major):
And here are two arrangements from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
That You [have had mercy on] my distress and pain,
That You also on the harm to my soul
Have had mercy so fatherly;
Therefore I praise You eternally.
Dr. Johann Olearius, 1671.
This hymn appears as "Oh, How Great Is Thy Compassion" in The Lutheran Hymnal (#384) and as "Oh, How Great Is Your Compassion" in Lutheran Worship (#364) and The Lutheran Service Book (#559). In all of these, and as the Gesangbuch notes, the text is sung to the tune "Ach, was soll ich Sünder [machen]." Here's an arrangement from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
This is the first hymn in a new section: "Vom Glauben und von der Rechtfertigung" "Of Faith and of Justification"
German text in the Gesangbuch:
1 Ach, seht, was ich für Recht und Licht
von meinem Jesu lerne.
Mein Herr und Gott verläßt mich nicht,
er ist von mir nicht ferne;
es mag mir noch so übel gehn,
so eilet er mir beizustehn,
mein Gott, mein Heil, mein Jesus.
2 Der Vater läßt mich nicht allein,
weil er mich herzlich liebet;
er kann nicht ferne von mir sein,
weil er mir Jesum gibet;
er eilt zu mir und steht mir bei,
dieweil ich außer Heuchelei
an diesen Jesum glaube.
3 Das hab ich von der Gnadenwahl,
Gott hat die Welt geliebet,
daß er ein hohes Liebesmahl
in seinem Sohne gibet.
Ich weiß, daß er mich nicht vergißt;
wen Gott liebt, dessen Name ist
im Himmel angeschrieben.
4 Mein treuer Heiland stellt sich ein,
bei dem ich alles finde,
damit soll nichts verloren sein,
als nur allein die Sünde,
die wird ins tiefe Meer versenket,
daß Gott nicht mehr an sie gedenkt
und ich das Leben habe.
5 Gott schenket sich der armen Welt
und wir sind Christi Glieder;
was er uns gibt und ihm gefällt,
das geben wir ihm wieder;
er liebt uns als sein Eigenthum
und das ist Gott ein ewger Ruhm,
daß er die Seinen schützet.
6 Drum wo mich Noth und Tod betrübt,
so will ich fröhlich singen:
Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt,
das kann den Feind bezwingen.
Wo Jesus bleibt, da bleiben wir,
sein Leben ist schon gut dafür,
daß uns kein Tod kann schaden.
7 Gott helfe nur durch seinen Geist,
daß ich von Herzen gläube
und in der Hoffnung allermeist
bei seinem Worte bleibe.
Ich habe mein gewisses Theil
und will in keinem andern Heil
ein ewig Leben haben.
8 Drum wenn ich heute sterben muß,
so schallt in meinen Ohren nichts,
als der gottgeliebte Schluß:
wer gläubt, wird nicht verloren.
Ich gläube, Jesus stimmet ein,
drum werd ich unverloren sein
und ewig, ewig leben.
M. Christian Weise, 1682.
My prose translation:
1 Oh, see what sort of right and light
I learn from my Jesus.
My Lord and God does not leave me;
He is not far from me;
Evil may yet happen to me,
So He hurries to stand beside me,
My God, my Salvation, my Jesus.
2 The Father does not leave me alone
Because He sincerely loves me;
He cannot be far from me
Because He gives me Jesus;
He hurries to me and stands with me
While I in the midst of hypocrisy
Believe in this Jesus.
3 This I have from the election of grace;
God has loved the world
So that He gives a high meal of love
In His Son.
I know that He does not forget me;
The name of he whom God loves
Is written in Heaven.
4 My faithful Savior appears
With Whom I find everything
So that nothing should be lost
But sin alone,
Which will be sunk in the deep sea
So that God no longer thinks about it
And I have life.
5 God gives Himself to the poor world,
And we are members of Christ;
What He gives us and [what] pleases Him -
That [is what] we give back to Him;
He loves us as His property,
And that is an eternal glory of God:
That He protects His own.
6 Therefore where distress and death trouble me,
So I will cheerfully sing:
"God so loved the world";
That can defeat the foe.
Where Jesus remains, there we remain;
His life is indeed good for it
That no death can harm us.
7 But [may] God help through His Spirit
That i would believe from the heart
And most of all, in hope
Remain in His word.
I have my certain part
And want to have in no other salvation
An eternal life.
8 Therefore when I must die to-day
Nothing rings in my ears
But the God-loved end:
He who would believe will not be lost.
I believe; Jesus agrees;
Therefore I will be un-lost
And eternally, eternally live.
M. Christian Weise, 1682.
I translated "außer" in the second verse as "in the midst of," based mostly on the context in which it appears.
As with the previous hymn text, the imagery of sinking sin deep in the sea in the fourth verse seems to come from the second half of Micah 7:19: "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
The quotation in the sixth verse is from John 3:16.
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:
I flipt most of the last two lines of the second verse to get a smoother English translation, likewise the last two lines of the sixth and ninth verses and, to some degree, also those of the twelfth verse.
The imagery of sinking sin deep in the sea in the fourth verse seems to come from the second half of Micah 7:19: "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
The line "was ich gesündigt habe" in the fifth verse is literally "what I have sinned," but I translated it as "The sin I have done."
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 tune." Here's the TLH arrangement:
And here's an arrangement from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
Much of the first verse paraphrases Ezekiel 33:11: " Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"
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 "Vater unser im Himmelr[eich]." Here's the arrangement from TLH (transposed up a whole step):
And here's an arrangement from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
That does not disappear through the death of Christ,
Who became our brother.
9 Who in all the world is so very
Swollen with pride
Whom Christ's humility does not cut down
When he considers himself before it?
The might of death is not so great;
It is broken by the bitter death on the cross
That God's Son suffered.
10 Yes, if one should lay Christ's mercy and grace
And the sin of all men
On the same scale,
It would be
Such a great difference,
As between day- and nighttime,
As between hell and Heaven.
11 Therefore, O You God rich in love,
Not to establish on mercy,
Through th eblood and death of Your Son
Forgive me my sins.
Through His innocence let my guilt
And through [His] patience my impatience
Become completely erased.
12 Give His humility to me as protection
As that which protects from pride.
May the gentleness erase my defiance
When He rages with enmity;
May He be to me everything that I must
So no judgement will be so sharp
That may condemn me.
Johann Heermann, 1630.
The translations that I found for "ablehnen" in the third verse were words like reject and refuse, which didn't seem to fit this context. I went with divert.
In the ninth verse, I switched one line from active voice to passive voice in order to accommodate better the following relative clause: "It is broken by the bitter death on the cross / That God's Son suffered" rather than "The bitter death on the cross breaks it...."
I'm not at all confident in my translation of the line "des Gnade nicht zu gründen" in the eleventh verse as "Not to establish on mercy," and I'm not sure I really understood the end of the twelfth verse.
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 "Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich." Here's the TLH arrangement:
And here are two arrangements from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
The Gesangbuch provides no authorial data for this text.
I couldn't find a translation for "entbrich dich" in the first verse. The suggestions I did find varied wildly, and I wasn't sure what fit here.
I translated "ich schrei dich an" in the second verse as "I call to You," but anschreien is a bit more intense than that. It's more like shout or yell, but I felt these were too aggressive in this context.
I had to rearrange a number of elements in the fifth verse to get a smoother English translation.
I flipt the last two lines of the eighth verse in order to keep the line "With which I am burdened" closer to the noun it modifies.
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 "Ach Gott und Herr." Here's an arrangement from TLH:
And here are two arrangements from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch:
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 "Wenn wir in höchsten N[öten]." Here's the arrangement from TLH:
And here's an arrangement from Telemann's Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch: