1000 Songs/All glory be to God on high (Nicolaus Decius)

All glory be to God on high (Nikolaus Decius)

1000 Songs

Author
The original author of the text was Nikolaus Decius. Nikolaus Decius first published the hymn in the Gesang Buch in 1525 based on Luke 2:14.

Translations/Challenges
The original German text translates to the following:

All glory be to God on high, Who hath our race befriended! To us no harm shall now come nigh, The strife at last is ended; God showeth His goodwill to men, And peace shall reign on earth again; O thank Him for His goodness! We praise, we worship Thee, we trust And give Thee thanks forever, O father, that Thy rule is just And wise, and changes never; Thy boundless grace o’er all things reigns, Thou dost whate’er Thy will ordains; ’Tis well Thou art our Ruler! O Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, Begotten of the Father, O Thou Who hast our peace restored, And the lost sheep dost gather, Thou Lamb of God, enthroned on high Behold our need and hear our cry; Have mercy on us, Jesus! O Holy Spirit, precious Gift, Thou Comforter unfailing, Do Thou our troubled souls uplift, Against the foe prevailing; Avert our woes and calm our dread: For us the Savior’s blood was shed; Do Thou in faith sustain us!

Editor's Choice
All glory be to God on high, Who hath our race befriended! To us no harm shall now come nigh, The strife at last is ended; God showeth His goodwill to men, And peace shall reign on earth again; O thank Him for His goodness! We praise, we worship Thee, we trust And give Thee thanks forever, O father, that Thy rule is just And wise, and changes never; Thy boundless grace o’er all things reigns, Thou dost whate’er Thy will ordains; ’Tis well Thou art our Ruler! O Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, Begotten of the Father, O Thou Who hast our peace restored, And the lost sheep dost gather, Thou Lamb of God, enthroned on high Behold our need and hear our cry; Have mercy on us, Jesus! O Holy Spirit, precious Gift, Thou Comforter unfailing, Do Thou our troubled souls uplift, Against the foe prevailing; Avert our woes and calm our dread: For us the Savior’s blood was shed; Do Thou in faith sustain us!

Tune
Hymnary.org lists the hymn tune for the song as ALLEIN GOTT, which was written for the song and can be heard there. The hymn meter for the hymn is 8.7.8.7.8.8.7, quite irregular.

Arrangements
A MIDI arrangement of the music can be found at Cyber Hymnal .com

Editor's Choice
An arrangement can be found in the hymnal entitled for the Living Church

Author biography
Nikolaus Decius was born in Hof, Germany in 1485. Decius became a monk after getting his degree from the Liepzig University in 1506. In the winter of 1524, Decius studied under Martin Luther. He became the recognized pastor for the St. Nicholas church in 1535 and died in 1541.