Written by Johann Olearius (1611–84) and first published in his 1664 collection Christliche Bet-Schule, this Trinitarian hymn is remarkable for its deeply personal focus: it praises God for His direct dealings with “me” and “my” soul, drawing on Luther’s explanation of the First Article of the Creed. Fascinatingly, it shares its tune with Martin Rinckart’s “Now Thank We All Our God” (LSB 895). Olearius originally wrote five stanzas, but the fifth—which concluded “The Lord my God be praised / Throughout eternity!”—was dropped when Lutheran Worship (1982) was published, its editors judging that the fourth stanza already possessed a sufficiently doxological conclusion. The familiar opening line itself evolved: August Crull’s 1879 translation began “Praised be the Lord, my God,” a phrasing he refined a decade later to the form we sing today.
Sung at Our Saviour
2026