Ich trau auf Gott, was solls denn sein

Here is my translation of the psalm paraphrase, “Ich trau auf Gott, was solls denn sein” (Cornelius Becker, d. 1604), based on Psalm XI, In Domino confido. The melody normally assigned is “Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit.”

Vierling (Biblia, 711) writes, “It is a psalm of supplication that laments the heretics and false interpreters of Scripture, who lead the people from the true foundation of the faith to their works, that is, to their high, great holiness of works, and in addition mock the true doctrine, saying, ‘What shall the righteous do?’ But it gives the consolation finally that God will of a surety manage affairs so that the false teachers shall be damned and the right abide, and so that the prayer may be heard as an example to us (v. 4). It pertains to the Second Commandment and the First Petition, etc.” Note in 2:2 that “faith’s” is an interpolation not explicit in the German, but suggested by this interpretation and necessitated by the meter.

 

I TRUST in God. Why would ye try
To urge my soul and lure me
To flee up to your mountain high
And there to dwell securely?
The bow of wicked men is bent,
Their arrow nocked with sly intent
To shoot and strike the upright.

2 What shall the righteous do when foes
Destroy the faith’s foundation?
The Lord in heaven sees and knows,
And is his preservation;
His eyes behold with vision clear
The sons of men both far and near.
He tries and proves the righteous.

3 His soul doth much the wicked hate
With all their vile profaning;
Snares, brimstone, fire, and tempest great
On them He shall send raining.
He loveth righteousness and right.
Whoever trusts Him and His might
Is dear to Him forever.

Translation © 2024 Matthew Carver.

GERMAN

Ich trau auf Gott, was ſols denn ſeyn/
Daß ihr mein Seel wolt treiben/
Daß ſie auf eure Berg allein/
Soll fliehend ſicher bleiben?
Der Gottloſn Bog geſpannet iſt/
Ihr Pfeil heimlich ſind zugerüſt/
Die Frommen zu verderben.

2.  Den Grund ſie reiſſen umb mit Trutz/
Was ſol der Grechte machen?
Der HERR im Himmel iſt ſein Schutz/
Der wird wohl ſehn zur Sachen/
Denn ſeine Augen forſchen wohl
Die Menſchenkinder allzumal./
Er prüfet die Gerechten.

3.  Mit Ernſt ſein Seele haſſen thut
Das frevel gottlos leben/
Plitz/ Wetter/ Schwefel/ Feuersglut
Zu Lohn er ihnn wird geben.
Das Recht er liebt und das Gericht./
Wer auff ihn ſetzt ſein Zuverſicht/
Der iſt ihm lieb für allen.