| 1. Herr Gott, dich loben wir, Herr Gott, wir danken dir. Dich, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit, Ehret die Welt weit und breit.1 |
1. Lord God, we praise you. Lord God, we thank you. You, God the Father in eternity, The world honors far and wide. |
| 2. So stimmen wir Bei dieser frohen Zeit Mit heisser Andacht an Und legen dir, O Gott, auf dieses neue Jahr Das erste Herzensopfer dar. Was hast du nicht von Ewigkeit Vor Heil an uns getan, Und was muss unsre Brust Noch jetzt vor Lieb und Treu verspüren? Dein Zion sieht vollkommne Ruh, Es fällt ihm Glück und Segen zu; Der Tempel schallt Von Psaltern und von Harfen, Und unsre Seele wallt, Wenn wir nur Andachtsglut in Herz und Munde führen. O, sollte darum nicht Ein neues Lied erklingen Und wir in heisser Liebe singen? |
2. Thus [with this “Te Deum”] we embark on singing At this happy time With ardent devotion And lay before you, Oh God, our initial heart’s-offering2 In this new year. What have you not done for us, From eternity, in support of salvation? And what must our breast sense Even now of [your] love and faithfulness? Your Zion3 knows perfect rest; Happiness and blessing befall it; The Temple resounds With psalteries4 and with harps,5 And our soul is inwardly stirred If only we induce the fervor of devotion into heart and mouth. Oh, should not A new song thus sound forth, And should we not sing in ardent love? |
| 3. Lasst uns jauchzen, lasst uns freuen, Gottes Güt und Treu Bleibet alle Morgen neu. Krönt und segnet seine Hand, Ach so glaubt, dass unser Stand Ewig, ewig glücklich sei. |
3. Let us shout, let us rejoice; God’s goodness and faithfulness Continues to be new every morning.6 If his hand crowns [with grace] and blesses [the righteous];7 Ah, then believe that our condition Will be eternally, eternally happy. |
| 4. Ach treuer Hort, Beschütz auch fernerhin dein wertes Wort, Beschütze Kirch und Schule, So wird dein Reich vermehrt Und Satans arge List gestört; Erhalte nur den Frieden Und die beliebte Ruh, So ist uns schon genug beschieden, Und uns fällt lauter Wohlsein zu. Ach! Gott, du wirst das Land Noch ferner wässern, Du wirst es stets verbessern, Du wirst es selbst mit deiner Hand Und deinem Segen bauen. Wohl uns, wenn wir Dir für und für, Mein Jesus und mein Heil, vertrauen. |
4. Ah, [God our] faithful refuge, Protect also henceforth your worthy word;8 Protect church and school; Thereby your [heavenly]9 kingdom is increased And Satan’s evil cunning confounded. Just uphold peace And beloved rest; Thereby, enough is already appointed to us, And nothing but wellbeing befalls us. Ah, God, you will Yet further water the land; You will always improve it; With your hand and your blessing You yourself will cultivate it. [It is] well with us if we, Forever and ever, Trust in you, my Jesus and my salvation. |
| 5. Geliebter Jesu, du allein Sollst unser10 Seelen Reichtum sein; Wir wollen dich vor allen Schätzen In unser treues Herze setzen, Ja, wenn das Lebensband zerreisst, Stimmt unser Gott-vergnügter Geist Noch mit den Lippen sehnlich ein: Geliebter Jesu, du allein Sollst unser Seelen Reichtum sein. |
5. Beloved Jesus, you alone Shall be our soul’s riches; We would set you ahead of all treasures In our faithful heart; Yes, when the bond of [earthly] life severs, Our God-gratified spirit Will yet eagerly join in with our lips: Beloved Jesus, you alone Shall be our soul’s riches. |
| 6. All solch dein Güt wir preisen, Vater ins Himmels Thron, Die du uns tust beweisen Durch Christum, deinen Sohn, Und bitten ferner dich, Gib uns ein friedlich Jahre, Vor allem Leid bewahre Und nähr uns mildiglich.11 |
6. All this your goodness we praise, Father on the throne of heaven, [The goodness] that you make known to us Through Christ, your son; And further we beseech you: Give us a peaceable year, Safeguard us from all suffering, And nourish us generously.12 |
| Georg Christian Lehms | (transl. Michael Marissen & Daniel R. Melamed) |
1 Martin Luther’s translation of the “Te Deum laudamus.”
2 This talk of the Te Deum as a “heart’s offering” is developed from the series of ideas in Psalm 51:17-19, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Herr, tue meine Lippen auf, dass mein Mund deinen Ruhm verkündige . . . . Die Opfer, die Gott gefallen, sind ein geängster Geist: ein geängstes und zuschlagen Herz wirst du, Gott, nicht verachten” (“Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may proclaim your glory [e.g., in songs of praise offered to God] . . . . The offerings that please God are [not burnt animal sacrifices but] a distressed spirit: a distressed and shattered heart, God, you will not despise”).
3 “Zion” was understood in traditional Christianity to mean the followers of Jesus, the church.
4 The expression “schallt von Psaltern” means “resounds with the playing of finger-plucked instruments called the psaltery,” not “resounds with the singing of poetry from the biblical book of Psalms.” The psaltery is a kind of zither, a flat wooden box with metal strings. In the Luther (and other) Bibles, “psaltery” was used for several different Hebrew musical-instrument terms whose meanings are now uncertain.
5 By the rules of older German grammar, this construction could admittedly be read as either singular (“psaltery and harp”) or plural (“psalteries and harps”); both German nouns would have had a dative “n”-ending. But in the various places that Luther Bibles of Bach’s day use the expression “mit Psaltern und Harfen,” the underlying Hebrew terms are both plural.
6 The language of these lines is derived from Lamentations 3:22-23, as rendered in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, “Die Güte des Herrn ists, dass wir nicht gar aus sind; seine Barmherzigkeit hat noch kein Ende, sondern sie ist alle Morgen neu, und deine Treue ist gross.” (“It is [through] the goodness of the Lord that we are not completely done for; his mercifulness, if anything, has no end; but it is new every morning, and great is your [i.e., God’s] faithfulness”).
7 The talk in this movement of God’s “crowning” and of the believer’s “condition” does not fully make sense without taking into account its oblique biblical phrasing. The language of line 4 is derived from Psalm 5:13, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Du, Herr, segnest die Gerechten; du krönest sie mit Gnaden” (“You, Lord, [will] bless the righteous; you [will] crown them with grace”). Line 4 is sometimes mistranslated as “Crown and bless his hand.” The line’s “segnet” and “krönt” are not second-person imperative (“[You Christians must] crown and bless his [God’s] hand”) with “Hand” as the object, however, but third-person indicative (“His [God’s] hand crowns and blesses [you Christians]) with “Hand” as the subject.
8 The expression “wertes Wort” comes from 1 Timothy 1:15, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Das ist je gewisslich wahr und ein teuer wertes Wort, dass Christus Jesus gekommen ist in die Welt, die Sünder selig zu machen” (“It is ever an assuredly true and a precious worthy saying/word [from/of God], that Christ Jesus came into the world to make sinners blessed/saved”).
9 The size of God’s realm here is not a geopolitical matter (i.e., a question of how many earthly territories will fall under a Christian ruler); it has to do with how many human souls will end up worshiping God in heaven. The notion that God’s growing realm is “das Himmelreich” (“the kingdom of heaven”) stems from the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32 (at the parable’s parallel tellings in Mark 4:30-32 and Luke 13:18-19, God’s realm is called simply “das Reich Gottes” [“the kingdom of God”]).
10 Some modern editions here give only “unser” (“our”), and others give only “meiner” (“my”). The 1711 Lehms print of the libretto reads only “unsrer.” Bach’s own score and performing part read “unser” (i.e., not “unsrer”) in mm. 23, 27, and 32; but in mm. 43, 48, and 53 they read “meiner.” This might well be a simple inconsistency on Bach’s part, but his readings were kept throughout his multiple performances of this cantata. It is thus possible that his intention was indeed to have the religious vow in the poetry’s A section expressed first communally (“our”) and then individually (“my”).
11 A stanza of “Helft mir Gottes Güte preisen,” not present in the 1711 Lehms print.
12 “Mildiglich,” often now mistranslated as “gently,” was formerly a synonym for “freigebig” (“generously”).
