Here is my suggested translation and adaptation of the Latin litany hymn, “Aufer a nobis,” which is found in ELGB #280, where the note is included: “It should be sung often at Matins and Vespers, in Rogation Week, and in time of need, and also on Sundays after the Epistle in place of the Sequence.” This hymn, originally an antiphon in the ancient church, is found in several slightly different versions. The present form found in the Buffalo Synod hymnal does not reflect the Trinitarian formula seen, e.g., in Cantica Sacra (Magdeburg, 1613), but has a stanza to the Triune God generally, the Father, and the Son, peculiarly with Alleluias instead of repeated refrains of “Have mercy,” etc., as seen for Advent I in Keuchenthal, 1f. This form rather comes from the Pomeranian Church Order (1569ff.) and originates thus as a separate Evangelical emendation of the Catholic form as seen later in Alte Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesäng, printed for the Bishop of Trier (Cölln: Quentel, 1615), replacing the Catholic phrase “Sancta Maria ora pro nobis” with “per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum.” A similar form was referenced in various Lutheran church orders of the 17th c.
TAKE away from us, O Lord,
all our iniquities,
that with clean hearts and minds we may worthily enter
into Thy Holy of Holies.
Alleluia.
2 Give ear, give ear, O Lord,
To our prayers through Jesus Christ,
our Lord.
Alleluia.
3 Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on Thy people,
Whom Thou hast redeemed, O Christ, with Thy blood,
And be not angry with us forever!
Alleluia.
Translation © 2023 Matthew Carver.
LATIN
Aufer a nobis, Domine,
cunctas iniquitates nostras,
ut possimus puris mentibus introire,
ad Sancta Sanctorum.
Allelujah.
2 Exaudi, exaudi, Domine,
preces nostras per Jesum Christum,
Dominum nostrum.
Allelujah.
3 Miserere, miserere, miserer populi tui,
quem redemisti Christe, sanguine tuo,
ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.
Allelujah
