Commit thy way to God

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Commit thy way to God

Author: Paul Gerhardt
Published in 3 hymnals

Author: Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt (b. Gräfenheinichen, Saxony, Germany, 1607; d. Lubben, Germany, 1676), famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Crüger. He served the Lutheran parish of Mittenwalde near Berlin (1651-1657) and the great St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin (1657-1666). Friederich William, the Calvinist elector, had issued an edict that forbade the various Protestant groups to fight each other. Although Gerhardt did not want strife between the churches, he refused to comply with the edict because he thought it opposed the Lutheran "Formula of Concord," which condemned some Calvinist doctrines. Consequently, he was r… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Commit thy way to God
Original Language:	German
Author:	Paul Gerhardt
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Befiehl du deine Wege. P. Gerhardt. [Trust in God.] This hymn, which Lauxmann in Koch, viii. 392, calls "The most comforting of all the hymns that have resounded on Paulus Gerhardt's golden lyre, sweeter to many souls than honey and the honey-comb," appeared as No. 333 in the Frankfurt edition, 1656, of Crüger's Praxis pietatis melica.
Translation in common use:—
Commit thy way to God. A good translation, omitting stanzas ix., x., xii., by Mrs. Charles in her Voice of Christian life in Song, 1858, p. 239. Her translations of stanzas i., ii., vi., viii., xi. form No. 138 in Jellicoe's Collection, 1867, and i., vi.-viii., xi., No. 283 in Bishop Kyle's Collection, 1860.

-- Excerpt from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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