There remaineth…a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:9–10
Words: Victor von Strauß und Torney, Lieder aus der Gemeine für das Christliche Kirchenjahr (Hamburg, Germany: F. Perthes, 1843), page 126 (Nun gingst auch du zur Sabbathsruh). Translated from German to English by Catherine Winkworth, Lyra Germanica (London & New York: George Newnes & Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1855), pages 228–29, and in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, number 56.
Thou sore oppressed, the Sabbath rest
In yon still grave art keeping!
All Thy labor now is done,
Past is all Thy weeping!
The strife is o’er, naught hurts Thee more:
The heart at last has slumbered
That in conflict sore for us
Bore our sins unnumbered.
Thou awful tomb, once filled with gloom!
How blessèd and how holy
Art thou now, since in the grave
Slept the Savior lowly!
How calm and blest the dead now rest
Who in the Lord departed!
All their works do follow them,
Yea, they sleep glad-hearted.
O lead us Thou to rest e’en now
With all who sorely anguished
’Neath the burden of their sins,
Long in woe have languished.
O blessèd Rock, soon grant Thy flock
To see Thy Sabbath morning!
Strife and pain will all be past
When that day is dawning.