Scripture Verse

O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure. Psalm 6:1

Introduction

Words: Jo­hann G. Al­bi­nus, cir­ca 1655 (Straf mich nicht in dein­em Zorn). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ar­thur T. Rus­sell, Psalms and Hymns (Cam­bridge, Eng­land: John Deigh­ton, 1851), num­ber 79.

Music: Straf mich nicht Hun­dert Ar­ien (Dres­den, Ger­ma­ny: 1694) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Al­bi­nus or Rus­sell (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Of the ori­gin of this hymn, J. C. Wet­zel, i. 46, and ii. 404, re­lates what seems ra­ther an apoc­ryph­al sto­ry to this ef­fect:—

Johann Ro­sen­müll­er, while mu­sic di­rect­or at Leip­zig, had been guil­ty of im­pro­per prac­tic­es with some of his schol­ars. He was thrown in­to pri­son, but hav­ing made his es­cape, went to Ham­burg. Thence he sent a pe­ti­tion for res­to­ra­tion to the Elec­tor Jo­hann Ge­org at Dres­den, and to sup­port his pe­ti­tion en­closed this hymn which Al­bi­nus had writ­ten for him.

Julian, p. 37

Lyrics

O do not against me, Lord,
Thy dis­plea­sure cher­ish;
Give me not my just re­ward;
Leave me not to per­ish.
Guilt, our shame—wakes Thy flame:
Christ our ran­som pay­eth:
He all wrath al­lay­eth.

Show me then a fa­ther’s love,
Me with aid con­sol­ing;
Look in pa­tience from above,
All my fears con­troll­ing.
Cheer my face—with Thy grace;
Oil of con­so­la­tion,
Gladness and sal­va­tion.

O my foe, de­part from me;
God hath heard my cry­ing:
Him I seek, from fear set free,
To His pre­sence fly­ing.
Hence dis­may—hence away:
All my sor­row ceas­eth;
God my heart re­leas­eth.

Holy Fa­ther! end­less praise
Here and in high Hea­ven,
All shall to Thy glo­ry raise,
Praise to Christ be giv­en
Praise to Thee—ev­er be,
Holy Ghost who hear­est,
And Thy sup­pli­ants cheer­est.