"" (Now say thanks and praise the Lord) is a Christian hymn in German, paraphrasing Psalm 118. The German text was originally written by

Ambrosius Lobwasser Ambrosius Lobwasser (1515–1585) was a German humanist and translator, born in Saxony. He served as professor of jurisprudence at the University of Königsberg from 1563 until his retirement in 1580, but is best known for his ''Psalter des Köni ...

in the 16th century as a translation, meant to match the music from the French

Genevan Psalter The ''Genevan Psalter'', also known as the ''Huguenot Psalter'', is a metrical psalter in French created under the supervision of John Calvin for liturgical use by the Reformed churches of the city of Geneva in the sixteenth century. Background ...

. It was rewritten and shortened in the 20th century by Peter Enderlin to be used in a hymnal of the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

. The song is included in German hymnals of various denominations.

History

The text is a paraphrase of Psalm 118 ("O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good"). The psalm, a favourite of the reformer Martin Luther, includes elements of thanks and praise, gates opening (a motif of

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

), hope beyond death, praise of someone coming in God's name (a motif of the Benedictus), and a lasting covenant. In the

, commissioned by

Calvin Calvin may refer to: Names * Calvin (given name) ** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States * Calvin (surname) ** Particularly John Calvin, theologian Places In the United States * Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet * Calvin T ...

, all psalms were included in French-language metric paraphrase, and associated with melodies.

, a professor of law from the University of Leipzig who converted to Lutheranism in 1539, together with all professors of the faculty, got to know this Psalter on study trips to France: he was so impressed that he translated the psalms to German, to go with the same melodies as in French. His version of psalm 118 has 14 stanzas of eight lines each. In the 20th century, Fritz Enderlin (1883–1971), a Swiss German scholar, teacher and school politician, was instrumental in the publication of a new hymnal for the Swiss

Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

, leading the hymnal commission from 1942 to 1952, the year of publication. He retained the first stanza of Lobwasser's hymn and the end of the last stanza, and rewrote the three and a half inner stanzas in 1951. He expressed the psalm's themes more succinctly, using ideas from both Lobwasser and modern Bible translations. The German text matches the original tune from the Genevan Psalter, attributed to

Guillaume Franc Guillaume Franc (c. 1505–1571) was a French musician and composer active in Geneva and Lausanne. He is regarded as instrumental in the development of both the ''Genevan Psalter'' and the '. Some of the melodies are still used in hymns in the 21 ...

(1543) and

Loys Bourgeois Loys "Louis" Bourgeois (; c. 1510 – 1559) was a French composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. He is most famous as one of the main compilers of Calvinist hymn tunes in the middle of the 16th century. One of the most famous mel ...

(1551), which was originally associated with Psalm 98. The melody is also used for other hymns, such as "". The hymn is widely used, being present in both Protestant and Catholic hymnals, as well as in various non-denominational and ecumenical collections.

Musical settings

Wilfried Fischer included the hymn in his collection ''Singt dem Herrn ein neues Lied'' of three-part settings of hymns based on texts from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

through the liturgical year, published by Schott.

References

External links

Nun saget Dank und lobt den Herren
l4a.org * {{Authority control Christian hymns 1952 songs 20th-century hymns in German Psalm settings