Word of God
Wilt Thou, O Man, Live Happily
- Words:
- Martin Luther, 1524. Translated by Richard Massie, 1854, alt.
- Music:
- 'Mensch, Willt du Leben Seligich' attr. Martin Luther. Found in Walter's Geistliche Gesangbüchlein, 1524.
- Setting:
- Johann Hermann Schein, 1627.
- Metre:
- 8 8 8 7 4
- 1Wilt thou, O man, live happily,And dwell with God eternally,The ten commandments keep, for thusOur God Himself biddeth us.Kyr' eleison!
- 2I am the Lord and God! take heed No other god doth thee mislead;Thy heart shall trust alone in Me,My kingdom then thou shalt be.
- 3Honor My Name in word and deed,And call on Me in time of need:Hallow the Sabbath, that I may Work in thy heart on that day.
- 4Obedient always, next to Me,To father and to mother be;Kill no man: even anger dread;Keep sacred thy marriage bed.
- 5Steal not, nor do thy neighbor wrong By bearing witness with false tongue;Thy neighbor's wife desire thou not,Nor grudge him aught he hath got.
Scripture
Topics
In the hymnals
- Written in 1525, the words are in 6 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
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. 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.