Ich bleibe stets bei Dir

Representative Text

1 Bei dir, Jesu, will ich bleiben,
stets in deinem Dienste stehn;
nichts soll mich von dir vertreiben,
will auf deinen Wegen gehn.
Du bist meines Lebens leben,
meiner Seele Trieb und Kraft,
wie der Weinstock seinen Reben
zuströmt Kraft und Lebenssaft.

2 Könnt ich's irgend besser haben,
als bei dir, der allezeit
so viel tausend Gnadengaben
für mich Armen hat bereit?
Könnt ich je getroster werden,
als bei dir Herr Jesu Christ,
dem im Himmel und auf Erden
alle Macht gegeben ist?

3 Wo ist solch ein Herr zu finden,
der, was Jesus that, mir thut
mich erkauft von Tod und Sünden
mit dem eignen theuren Blut?
Sollt ich dem nicht angehören,
der sein Leben für mich gab?
Sollt ich ihm nicht Treue schwören,
Treue bis in Tod und Grab?

4 Ja, Herr Jesu, bei dir bleib ich,
so in Freude wie in Leid;
bie dir bleib ich, dir verschreib ich
mich für Zeit und Ewigkeit.
Deines Winks bin ich gewärtig,
auch des Rufs aus dieser Welt;
denn der ist zum Sterben fertig,
der sich lebend zu dir hält.

5 Bleib mir nur auf dieser Erden
nahe, bis mein Tag sich neigt.
Wenn es einst will Abend werden
und die Nacht hernieder steigt,
wenn mein Aug wird dunkler, trüber,
dann erleuchte meinen Geist,
daß ich fröhlich zieh hinüber,
wie man nach der Heimath reist.

Author: Karl Johann Philipp Spitta

Spitta, Carl Johann Philipp, D.D., was born Aug. 1, 1801, at Hannover, where his father, Lebrecht Wilhelm Gottfried Spitta, was then living, as bookkeeper and teacher of the French language. In his eleventh year Spitta fell into a severe illness, which lasted for four years, and so threw him back that his mother (the father died in 1805) abandoned the idea of a professional career, and apprenticed him to a watchmaker. This occupation did not prove at all congenial to him, but he would not confess his dislike, and his family were ignorant of it till an old friend, who was trying to comfort him after the death of a younger brother, discovered his true feelings. The younger brother had been preparing for ordination, and so Carl was now invited… Go to person page >

Notes

Bei dir Jesu, will ich bleiben. C. J. Spitta. [Confirmation.] Founded on Ps. lxxiii. 23, and first published in the 1st Series of his Psalter und Harfe, 1833, p. 58, in 6 stanzas of 8 lines, entitled, "I remain continually with Thee." In the Württemberg Gesang-Buch, 1842, No. 383, Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz , 1837, No. 1709 (1865, No. 890). The translations in common use are:—
1. In Thy service will I ever. A full and good translation by R. Massie in his Lyra Dominica. 1860, p. 59, and thence in Schaff's Christ in Song, edition 1879, p. 452. Altered and transposed as Nos. 542, 543 in Adams's American Church Pastorals, 1864. No. 543 begins with stanza v., "Let Thy light on me be shining," and incorporates, as stanza ii., a cento from stanzas i., ii. of Massie's translation of Spitta's "Meine Stund ist noch nicht kommen" (q. v.). In Horder's Congregational Hymns , 1884, No. 267, stanza iv., lines 5-8, and v., lines 5-8, are omitted.
2. By Thee, Jesus, will I stay. A translation of stanzas i., v., vi. as No. 35 in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1876, marked as by "J. B. Walter, 1868."
Other translations are:—
(1) "So will I abide for ever," by J. D. Burns in his Memoir & Remains , 1869, p. 236. (2) "Jesus, with Thee I would abide," by Lady Durand, 1873, p. 48.
[Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

[Bei dir, Jesu, will ich bleiben] (34533)


REGENT SQUARE (Smart)

Henry T. Smart (PHH 233) composed REGENT SQUARE for the Horatius Bonar (PHH 260) doxology "Glory be to God the Father." The tune was first published in the English Presbyterian Church's Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), of which Smart was music editor. Because the text editor of that hymna…

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O DU LIEBE MEINER LIEBE (Thommen)

Originally a folk song ("Sollen nun die grünen Jahre") dating from around 1700, O DU LIEBE MEINER LIEBE was used as a hymn tune in the Catholic hymnal Bambergisches Gesangbuch (1732). The tune name is the incipit of the text to which it was set in Johann Thommen's Erbaulicher Musicalischer Christen…

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Glaubenslieder #290

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