? Johann Walther 1524

i.

O God, be mercyfull to me,
Accordynge to Thy great pitie;
Washe of, make clene my iniquite:
I knowlege my synne, and it greveth me
Agaynst The, agaynst The only
Have I synned, which is before myne eye:
Though Thou be judged in man’s syght,
Yet are Thy wordes founde [bad word] and ryght.

ii.

Beholde, I was all borne in synne,
My mother conceaved me therin:
But Thou lovest treuth, and haste shewed me
Thy wysdome hyd so secretly.
With fayre ysope, Lorde, sprenkle Thou me;
Washe Thou me clean; so shall I be
Whyter than snowe: cause me reioyse,
Make my bones mery, whom Thou madest lowse.

iii.

Lorde, turne Thy face from my wickednesse;
Clense me from all unryghteousnesse:
pure harte, Lorde, make Thou in me,
Renewe a ryght spirite in my body:
Cast me not out away from The,
Nor take Thy Holy Goost from me;
Make me reioyse in Thy savynge health,
Thy myghty Spirite strength me for my wealth.

iv.

Thy waye shall I shewe to men full of vyce,
And [bad word] them well in Thy service;
That wicked men and ungodly
May be converted unto The.
O God, O God, my Savioure,
Delyver me from the synne of murther:
My tonge shall reioyse in Thy mercye;
Open my lippes, and my mouth shal prayse The.

v.

Thou wylt have no bodely offrynge;
I thought them els to The to brynge.
God’s sacrifice is a troubled spirite;
Thou wylt not dispise a harte contrite.
With Sion, O God, deale gently,
That [bad word] walles may buylded be:
Then shalt Thou delyte in the ryght offrynge,
Which men shall with theyr calves brynge.
Erhart Hegenwalt (1524)     Tr. Bishop Myles Coverdale1 .

The hymn, “Erbarm’ dich mein, O Herre Gott,” a translation of Psalm 51, was published in the Enchiridion Oder eyn Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524) and in Johann Walther’s Wittenberg Hymn-book in the same year, in the latter with the melody supra. The author of the hymn, Erhart Hegenwalt, appears to have been a student and graduate of Wittenberg and a contemporary of Luther and Walther there.