Ach treuer Gott, dir sei(s) geklagt

Here is my translation of the cross and comfort hymn, “Ach treuer Gott, dir sei(s) geklagt” (Salomo Liscovius, d. 1689), in NEGB #90 for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Gospel: Luke 17:11–19) with melody assignment “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.” It is not in Fischer. According to Bode’s source notes for the Hannover and Lüneburg hymnal (Quellennachweis…), the hymn is by Liscovius, dating to 1672, and was published in the women’s devotional, Christliche Frauen-Zimmers (1703) as an “invalid’s hymn of lament and comfort.”

The Evangelischer Liederschatz (1730), a glossed hymnal, has the following meditation: “v. 1–3. Sicknesses come as harbingers of death, which came upon all men because of sin, and from sin itself, and blessed is he who penitently acknowledges this when he is cast by God upon the sickbed, for he will be better prepared for God’s meethod and order of salvation, who first forgives sins, and only then takes away sickness. See here especially the noteworthy account in Matthew 9:2 and the earnest expression of the Savior in John 5:14, and learn in your sickness to be anxious above all for your sin, as especially the pious King David with his good example anticipated all Christian invalids therein, and in his supplications constantly tied the sorrows of the body and of the soul to his sins, as in Psalm 6 and 38. — V. 4–6. ‘The invalid seeks the physician’ is a true saying that agrees with all experience. The better the physician, and the more proofs of his knowledge and experience he has made in successful procedures,, the greater the confidence the patient has in him and the more earnestly he seeks his help. Soul, your God already offered Himself to Israel before this, to be their Physician, and it was so gloriously demonstrated to all the world afterward that with only a single word not only diseases but even death itself yielded and delivered its dead. Behold the beautiful testimony in Matthew 11:4–5. How then will yyou not take refuge in Him in your sickness and seek help and aid from Him as the best Physician? I am sure that if our invalids also seek this heavenly Physician better and by petition of His help do not simply let the end come, as commonly happens, more of them will also be helped, and many diseases will be cured, which are not to be taken away after man has set God aside for so long.”

 

O FAITHFUL God, my plaint I bring
For all the grief and anguish
Which doth my heart oppress and sting!
My limbs in torment languish,
I am with sickness burdened sore,
My strength is gone, I have no more
From Thy great wrath and threat’ning.

2 Thou hast for mine iniquity
In such affliction laid me,
That I must pray Thee longingly
For Thee to help and aid me;
I lie here without rest or peace,
And weakness ever doth increase,
And death, I fear, approacheth.

3 But since Thou say’st explicitly
As our paternal Giver,
That if we seek and ask of Thee,
Thou wilt in need deliver,
Thus at Thy door I knock and cry:
Oh, faithful Father, help supply,
And banish mine affliction.

4 For Thou art still that Champion strong,
Who life and death compelleth;
The Healer who can do no wrong,
And healers all excelleth.
Oh, strengthen then my spirit weak,
Remove whate’er doth ill bespeak,
And cure my pains and sorrows.

5 Bestow on me Thy steadfast love,
And in Thy grace renew me,
Let me true Christian patience prove,
But that which harm may do me,
O dearest God, send far away,
And by Thy Spirit good convey
All life and consolation.

6 O Jesus Christ, my faithful Lord,
For my sake sore offended,
In mercy utter but a word
And I will be amended.
Yea, dearest Master, if Thou will
My suff’ring must at once be still
And all my pain extinguished.

7 O faithful God, I trust in Thee,
’Twas Thou this stroke hast given;
And yet to bear infirmity
Thou wilt send help from heaven,
That so my sorrow’s pressing load
Which Thou hast for my own bestowed,
May not o’erwhelm me wholly.

8 But if I must succumb to death,
And sickness yields to dying
Grant me to overcome by faith,
On Thee, O Lord, relying,
That I may pass through agony
To heaven’s glorious majesty
In confidence and gladness.

Translation © 2023 Matthew Carver.

GERMAN

Ach frommer Gott! dir seys geklagt,
was mich in meinem Herzen
für Angst und Elend drückt und plagt;
mein Leib ist voller Schmerzen.
Ich bin mit Krankheit hart beschwert,
und meine Kraft ist fast verzehrt,
von deinem Zorn und Dräuen.

2 Du hast für meine Missethat
mich selber so zerschmissen,
daß ich nun deinen treuen rath
und hülfe muß vermissen:
Ich liege da ganz ohne ruh,
auch nimmt die Schwachheit immer zu,
und muß den Tod besorgen.

3 Weil aber du dich hast erklärt
und väterlich verheissen;
den, der dich suchet und begehrt
aus seiner Noth zu reissen,
so komm ich auch vor dine Thür:
ach frommer Vater, hilf du mir,
und wende meine Plage.

4 Denn du bist noch der starke Held,
der Tod und Leben zwinget;
ein treue Arzt für alle Welt,
dem alles wohl-gelinget:
darum, so stärke meinen Geist,
nimm weg, was Noth und Krankheit heißt,
und heile meine Schmerzen.

5 Beschenke mich mit deiner Huld,
erhalte mich in Gnaden,
verleibe christliche Geduld,
was aber mir kann schaden,
laß, liebster Gott! entfernet seyn,
und gib mir Trost und Leben ein
durch deines Geistes Gaben.

6 O Jesu! treuer Seelenhort
von wegen deiner Wunden,
sprich du aus Gnaden nur ein Wort,
so bin ich schon verbunden:
ja wenn du, lieber Meister! willt,
so wird mein Leiden bald gestillt,
und meine Pein gedämpfet.

7 Nun treuer Gott! ich traue dir;
du hast mich selbst geschlagen;
du wirst auch meine Schwachheit mir
getreulich helfen tragen,
daß mich die schwere Schmerzenslast,
die du mir aufgeleget hast,
nicht gänzlich unterdrücke.

8 Soll aber ich in dieser Noth
und Krankheit unterliegen;
so gib daß über meinen Tod
ich gläubig möge siegen,
daß ich durch Jammer, Kreuz und Leid
zu deines Himmels Herrlichkeit
getrost und fröhlich dringe.