Reformation
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
- Words:
- Martin Luther, 1529. Translation Frederic Henry Hedge, 1853.
- Music:
- 'Ein Feste Burg (Isorhythmic)' Martin Luther, 1529.
- Setting:
- "Common Service Book" (ULCA), 1917, alt.
- Metre:
- 8 7 8 7 6 6 6 6 7
- 1A mighty fortress is our God,a bulwark never failing;Our helper He, amid the floodof mortal ills prevailing:For still our ancient foedoth seek to work us woe;His craft and pow'r are great,and, armed with cruel hate,On earth is not his equal.
- 2Did we in our own strength confide,our striving would be losing;Were not the right Man on our side,the Man of God's own choosing:Dost ask who that may be?Christ Jesus, it is He;Lord Sabaoth, His name,from age to age the same,And He must win the battle.
- 3And though this world, with devils filled,should threaten to undo us,We will not fear, for God hath willedHis truth to triumph through us:The Prince of Darkness grim,we tremble not for him;His rage we can endure,for lo, his doom is sure,One little word shall fell him.
- 4That word above all earthly pow'rs,no thanks to them, abideth;The Spirit and the gifts are oursthrough Him who with us sideth:Let goods and kindred go,this mortal life also;The body they may kill:God's truth abideth still,His kingdom is forever.
More sheet music
Scripture
Topics
In the hymnals
- The words are in 761 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
- The tune, Ein Feste Burg (Isorhythmic), is in 832 hymnals. The tune →
Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The score is from the Open Hymnal Project (Brian J. Dumont), which places its own work in the public domain. Further sheet music is from PDHymns.com. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.