Written by Joachim Neander (1650–1680) in the final year of his short life; he died at just thirty. Known in German as Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, it is, by the estimation of hymnologist Martin Roßler, “anecdotally and statistically the most frequently sung hymn of all time,” present today in the hymnals of nearly every Christian tradition. The text echoes the great concluding psalms of the Psalter, Psalms 146 through 150, which open and close with the Hebrew Hallelu-Yah, joining the plural command to praise (halal) with the covenant name of God (Yahweh); Neander’s hymn functions as a New Testament Hallelujah, continually calling the singer to declare how richly God works and provides. The English text sung today is a composite: Catherine Winkworth translated stanzas 1, 2, 4, and 5 for her 1863 Chorale Book for England, while the third stanza was supplied later by Jeremiah Haak Good in 1880. As the opening hymn for a Sunday centered on trusting God’s provision rather than our own anxious grasping, it sets the whole service on a note of unrestrained praise for the God who, as the Gospel promises, already knows what His children need.
Sung at Our Saviour
2025