Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe Dem Schöpfer aller Dinge

Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe Dem Schöpfer aller Dinge

Author: Paul Gerhardt
Tune: NUN LASST UNS GOTT
Published in 97 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Wach' auf, mein Herz, und singe,
dem Schöpfer aller Dinge,
dem Geber aller Güter,
dem frommen Menschenhüter!

2 Heint, als die dunklen Schatten
mich ganz umgeben hatten,
hat Satan mein begehret,
Gott aber hat's verwehret.

3 Ja, Vater, als er suchte,
daß er mich fressen möchte,
war ich in deinem Schoße,
dein Flügel mich beschlosse.

4 Du sprachst: Mein Kind, nun liege
Trotz dem, der dich betrüge!
Schlaf wohl, laß dir nicht grauen,
du sollst die Sonne schauen.

5 Dein Wort, das ist geschehen,
ich kann das Licht noch sehen,
von Not bin ich befreiet,
dein Schutz hat mich verneuet.

6 Du willst ein Opfer haben,
hier bring' ich meine Gaben,
mein Weihrauch, Farr'und Widder,
sind mein Gebet und Lieder.

7 Die wirst du nicht verschmähen,
du kannst ins Herze sehen
und weißest, daß zur Gabe
ich ja nichts Beßres habe.

8 So woll'st du nun vollenden
dein Werk an mir und senden,
der mich an diesem Tage
auf seinen Händen trage.

9 Sprich ja zu meinen Taten,
hilf selbst das Beste raten,
den Anfang, Mitt'l und Ende,
ach Herr, zum besten wende!

10 Mit Segen mich beschütte,
mein Herz sei deine Hütte,
dein Wort sei meine Speise,
bis ich gen Himmel reise!


Source: Kleines Gesang- und Gebetbuch #56

Author: Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt (b. Gräfenheinichen, Saxony, Germany, 1607; d. Lubben, Germany, 1676), famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Crüger. He served the Lutheran parish of Mittenwalde near Berlin (1651-1657) and the great St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin (1657-1666). Friederich William, the Calvinist elector, had issued an edict that forbade the various Protestant groups to fight each other. Although Gerhardt did not want strife between the churches, he refused to comply with the edict because he thought it opposed the Lutheran "Formula of Concord," which con­demned some Calvinist doctrines. Consequently, he was r… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe Dem Schöpfer aller Dinge
Author: Paul Gerhardt
Language: German
Notes: Polish translation: See "Wstań, duszo ma, niech wzlata"; Swahili translation: See "Ee moyo wangu amka"
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Wach auf, mein Herz! und singe. P. Gerhardt. [Morning.] Included in the 3rd edition, 1648, of Crüger's Praxis, as No. 1, in 10 stanzas of 4 lines. Thence in Wackernagel's edition of his Geistliche Leider, No. 99, and Bachmann's edition, No. 1. Repeated in the Crüger-Runge Gesang-Buch, 1653, No. 1, and recently in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder , ed. 1863, No. 1132. It is one of the finest and most popular of German morning hymns, and soon passed into universal use, st. viii. being a special favourite. Translated as:—
My Soul, awake and tender. In full, by J. C. Jacobi, in his Psalmodia Germanica, 1720, p. 33 (1722, p, 104), repeated as No. 477 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. In the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789, No. 744 (1886, Nos. 1158, 1159), begins "My soul awake and render," stanzas i., ii., iv., v. being from i.; v. 11. 3, 4 ; vi. 11. 1,2; x.; viii.; while stanza iii. ("Bless me this day, Lord Jesus," 1886, No. 1159), is st. iii. of No. 189, in pt. i. of the 1754. From this 1789 text st. i., iii., 11. 1, 2 ; iv. 11. 3, 4, were given in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833.
Other translations are: (1) "Thy Thanks, my Soul, be raising," by H. J. Buckoll, 1842, p. 28. (2) " Wake, my heart, and sing His praises," by E. Massie, 1867. (3) “Awake, my heart, be singing," by J. Kelly, 1867. (4) "Wake up, my heart, elater," by N. L. Frothingham, 1870. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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