Suggested tune: SIEH HIER BIN ICH
Sieh hier bin ich Ehren König. J. Neander. [Supplication.] This beautiful and searching hymn is traditionally said to have been written in 1677 during enforced absence from his duties. Founded on Ps. lvii. 7 ("God, my heart is ready, to sing and to praise "). First published in his Glaub-und Liebesübung:auffgemuntert durch einfältige Bundes-Lieder und Danck-Psalmen. Bremen, 1680, p. 139, in 6 stanzas of 6 lines, entitled “Encouragement to Praise." In the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 341. Translated as:—
1. Behold me here, in grief draw near. By Mrs. Findlater in the 1st Ser., 1854, of the Hymns from the Land of Luther, p. 44 (1884, p. 46). This follows the text of Knapp in his Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, 1837, No. 2060 (1865, No. 1682), omitting st. iv. St. v. of this version is not by Neander, and had appeared in the Württemberg Gesang-Buch, 1791, No. 464, thus:—
"Tief in Nöthen Lass mich beten,
Kindlich beten, Herr, vor dir!
Ach, erscheine, Wenn ich weine,
Bald mit deiner Hülfe mir!
Lass dich finden! Lass dich finden!
Denn mein Herz verlangt nach dir!"
Included in full in Cantate Domino, Boston, U. S., 1859, and omitting Mrs. Findlater's st. iv. in the Methodist New Connexion Hymn Book, 1863.
2. Here behold me, as I cast me. A very good translation, omitting st. iv., v., by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 2nd. Ser., 1858, p. 170; repeated in her Chorale Book for England , 1863, No. 122. The form in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, 1866, beginning "Look upon me, Lord, I pray Thee," consists of stanzas ii. and iii.
Other translations are: (1) "King of glory, see before Thee,” from Knapp, by R. Massie in the British Herald, May, 1865, p. 68, repeated in Reid's Praise Book, 1812. (2) "Now behold me, King of glory," in the German Reformed Guardian, June 1865, p. 173, signed "S. T." [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Neander, Joachim, was born at Bremen, in 1650, as the eldest child of the marriage of Johann Joachim Neander and Catharina Knipping, which took place on Sept. 18, 1649, the father being then master of the Third Form in the Paedagogium at Bremen. The family name was originally Neumann (Newman) or Niemann, but the grandfather of the poet had assumed the Greek form of the name, i.e. Neander. After passing through the Paedagogium he entered himself as a student at the Gymnasium illustre (Academic Gymnasium) of Bremen in Oct. 1666. German student life in the 17th century was anything but refined, and Neander seems to have been as riotous and as fond of questionable pleasures as most of his fellows. In July 1670, Theodore Under-Eyck came to Breme… Go to person page >
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