Gleichwie sich fein ein Vögelein

Here is my revised translation of the hymn “Gleichwie sich fein / ein Vögelein” (? Johann Major, d. 1600), attached in KELG to the hymn “Ach Gott und Herr” (Martin Rutilius, d. 1618), in English, “Oh God and Lord” (Winkworth), as stanzas 9–13, itself revised by me for Walther’s Hymnal so as to follow the original form. When that was done in 2009, I was not yet aware of J. C. Jacobi’s translation (as the last five stanzas of his “O God my Lord, how great the hoard”), which I include below for comparison. Our present hymn, says Fischer, was first attached to Rutilius’s hymn in Bernhard Derschow’s Außerlesene Geistreiche Lieder (Königsberg, 1639), while the first two stanzas appear already as a separate hymn in Melchior Franck’s Geistliche musikalische Lustgarden (1616). Stanza 4 first appears attached to these (and separately to Rutilius’s hymn) in Clauder’s Psalmodia nova (Altenburg, 1627) with several more stanzas, including our present stanzas 3 and 5). It is Rambach who in his Anthologie II (p. 230) ascribes the stanzas to Johann Major, noting that he “may have prepared these stanzas while he was still a colleague of Rutilius in Weimar.” The appointed melody is “Ach Gott und Herr.”

 

LIKE as a bird,
When storms are heard,
Inside a tree takes shelter
And safe abides
Whate’er betides
Amid the wind and welter:

2 So, Jesus Christ,
My refuge prized
Is in Thy wounds deep-graven;
When sin and death
Have threatened wrath
There have I found my haven.

3 There I shall bide
Till Thou decide,
And flesh and soul are parted,
There I with Thee,
My Strength, shall be
Forever joyful-hearted.

4 Christ Jesus, Lord!
Thy help afford
Till I in death am sleeping;
When I must leave,
My soul receive
Into Thy faithful keeping.

5 All praise alone,
God Father, Son,
And Holy Ghost, we give Thee!
Nor doubt or dread,
For Thou hast said
We're saved if we believe Thee!

Translation © 2009 Matthew Carver.

JACOBI

VII. As a poor worm
Before a storm
(Clouds gath'ring, thunder growling)
In the earth hides;
And there abides,
While smoking show'rs are falling;

VIII. So I, when sin
And hell begin
To threaten my undoing,
Run to the side
Of Christ, and hide
Me from the threatened ruin.

IX. His wounded side
My soul shall hide,
When death shall draw his arrow.
In Christ true faith
Redeems from death
And hell and sin and sorrow.

*O! blessed be
Th’eternal Three
The Father, Son, and Spirit;
Blest Three in One,
To whom the Son
Restores us by His merit.

GERMAN

Gleich wie sich fein
ein Vögelein
in hohle Baum verstecket,
wenns trüb hergeht,
die Luft unstät
Menschen und Vieh erschrecket:

2 Also Herr Christ,
mein Zuflucht ist
die Höhle Deiner Wunden:
Wenn Sünd und Tod
mich bracht in Noth,
hab ich mich drein gefunden.

3 Darin ich bleib,
ob Seel und leib
hier von einander scheiden,
so werd ich dort
bei Dir, mein Hort,
sein in ewigen Freuden.

4 Herr Jesu Christ!
mein Trost Du bist
an meinem Letzten Ende,
wenn ich hinfahr
mein Seel bewahr,
ich bfehl sie in Dein Hände.

5 Ehre sei nun
Gott Vatr und Sohn,
dem heilgen Geist zusammen,
zweifle auch nicht,
weil Christus spricht:
Wer gläubt, wird selig, Amen.