Here is my translation of the doxology stanza, “Preis, Ehr und Lob dem höchsten Gott” (Anon.), in ELGB #427, first appearing, according to Fischer, in Etliche Lieder, Gepet und Psalmen (Nuremberg, ca. 1546), later with various alteration in various hymnals, e.g., Strassburg 1568, Frankfurt 1570, Keuchenthal 1573. There is interestingly no dative attributing praise to the Son specifically, though He is of course included in the general term “Gott” in the first line. In the Buffalo Synod hymnal, the stanza appears by itself with the title: “Doxology to be sung with the hymn: ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,’ and also in other instances,” such as, presumably, “O Jesu einig wahres Haupt”; also from the Wisconsin hymnal, “Mein fester Fels und starker Hort” and “Wenn Christus seine Kirche schützt.”
TO God Most High all glory be,
Our Father kind in heaven,
Who to repair our injury
In love His Son hath given:
And to the Comforter,
Who from sin makes [us]* pure,
To the kingdom draws,
And heaven’s pathway shows.
May He assist us! Amen.
*For the longer form of the meter, in line 6 the word “us” is inserted.
Translation © 2023 Matthew Carver.
GERMAN
Preis, Ehr und Lob dem höchsten Gott,
dem Vater aller Gnaden:
der uns aus Lieb gegeben hat
seinn Sohn für unsern Schaden:
dem Tröster heilgem Geist,
von Sünd Er uns reißt,
zum Reich Er uns heißt,
den Weg zum Himmel weist,
der helf uns fröhlich, Amen.
