So gehst du nun, du Gotteslamm, mit Freuden

We pause from the canticles of Cyriacus Spangenberg (there are only a few left, which are best saved for Holy Week and Easter), and here begin a series of translations of Passion hymns arising from my recent translation of the devotional Passion-book (in German Passionsbuch) by Friedrich Lochner, now available for pre-order. In this book, the author includes a few stanzas from a hymn or two at the beginning and ending of each of sixty-six devotions on the different stages of the Passion History. Thirty-eight of these I found to be without complete (or any) English translation (or their translation was copyrighted), and the German texts did not appear in standard German-American hymnals of the period, though some may be found in lesser-known hymnals which I have yet to peruse. 

    The first, then, from the end of Devotion 2, “Jesus Foretells His Sufferings Again,” focusing on Matthew 26:1–2 & Luke 22:1, is “So gehst du nun, du Gotteslamm, mit Freuden’ (Ehrenfried Liebich, d. 1780), of which stanzas 1, 3–4 are used. Here I present the whole hymn for those interested. The German I find in Liebich’s Geistliche Lieder und Oden (1768), no. 127, p. 245f., titled, “Christ’s Going to Suffering.”

 

Mel.: Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen
 

NOW dost Thou go, O Lamb of God, with gladness,
Scorn, blows, and death to suffer for our madness;
  Thus Thou dost long to do in fullest measure
  Thy Father’s pleasure.

2 Yea, Lamb, Thou goest, pitying and patient,
Thou pay’st our debt, yet hast no debt occasioned;
  On Thee God lays our crimes, Thee guilty speaking,
  Sharp vengeance wreaking.

3 Now dost Thou seal what was by prophets written,
Now art Thou scorned, tormented, torn, and bitten,
  Now as a curse upon the tree art carried,
  Entombed, and buried.

4 Lamb, that my God hath slain for my transgression,
Lamb, counting more than life my own salvation,
  O Lamb of God, let me Thy bloodshed’s blessing
  E’er be possessing!

5 Thy holy blood let blot out all that stains me,
And ward off all the blows of wrath against me,
Strengthen me to o’ercome the world’s oppression,
Self, and transgression!

6 When in the final strife my eye is dimming,
Beam then upon me, Love, from wounds bright-gleaming,
That, half-dissolved, I may behold Thee bleeding—
Bliss all exceeding!

 Translation © 2025 Matthew Carver.

GERMAN

So gehst du nun, du Gotteslamm, mit Freuden,
Schmach, Schläg und Tod für deinen Feind zu leiden!
So sehnst du dich, des Vaters treuen Willen
Treu zu erfüllen!

2 Ja, Lamm, du gehst erbarmend und geduldig,
du zahlest Schuld, und bist doch selbst nichts schuldig;
Gott übt an dir, für unsre böse Sache
die strengste Rache.

3 Nun siegelst du die Schriften der Propheten,
nun wird man dich verhöhnen, martern, töten,
nun wirst du als ein Fluch ans Kreuz geschlagen,
ins Grab getragen.

4 Lamm, was mein Gott für meine Sünde schlachtet,
Lamm, was mein Heil mehr als sein Leben achtet,
Lamm Gottes, laß dein segnend Blutvergießen
auch mich genießen.

5 Dein heilges Blut tilg alle meine Flecken,
es sei mein Schild, vorm Zorn mich zu bedecken;
es stärke mich, die Welt, mich und die Sünden
zu überwinden!

6 Wird einst mein Aug im letzten Kampfe trübe,
so strahl auf mich, aus deinen Wunden, Liebe!
Halb aufgelöst, dich blutig zu erblicken,
O welch Entzücken!