Note: There are other fine translations out there. However, in writing an academic paper on Bach's cantata on this hymn for Dr. Robert Kolb, I wanted a translation that meshed with Bach's setting. This is the result.
"Ou-r" is our pronounced with two syllables, like is becoming commonly spoken.
'Thrall' means slavehood.
Changes: This is a composite translation (hodge-podge of translations) that I've altered to line up with Bach. Sometimes this means awkwardness.
Tune: CHRIST LAG IN TODESBANDEN (LSB 458). An newly composed tune can be found in Christian Worship Supplement 791 and heard here.
Christ in the bonds of death was lain,
For ou-r sins was given;
But Jesus Christ is ris'n again
And brings us life from heaven.
Let us all rejoice, therefore,
And give Him thanks forevermore.
And sing loud hallelujahs.
Hallelujah!
Their death no one could overwin,
Nor hell nor yet the Devil.
This all was made through ou-r sin:
None innocent but evil.
Thus death came upon us all,
And bound the fallen world in thrall.
It held us in its kingdom.
Hallelujah!
But Jesus Christ, God's only Son,
In ou-r stead descended.
He put away our sins alone
And death's great power ended,
Ruined all its right and claim,
And it has naught left but the name:
Its sting is lost forever.
Hallelujah!
It was a great and wondrous thing
When life and death contended;
Life was the one that got the win,
The rule of death was ended.
Holy Scripture spoke of it,
How one death would the other eat,
A joke is what it’s been made.
Hallelujah!
Here the right Easter Lamb we see,
Bebidd’n of us from heaven,
Once high upon th'accurséd tree,
In burning love was given.
See, His blood now marks our door;
Faith holds it up; death passes o'er.
The Murderer can't harm us.
Hallelujah!
So, let us keep this holy day,
With our heart's joy o'erflowing,
The Lord Himself with heav'nly ray
This day on us bestowing.
Now His grace to us imparts
Eternal sunshine to our hearts;
The night of sin has vanished.
Hallelujah!
Let's eat this righteous Easter bread,
Thereby, forever living.
The yeast of sin must be ousted
By grace, which He is giving.
Christ alone our souls will feed,
He is our food and drink indeed;
Faith lives on nothing other.
Hallelujah!
Christ lag in Todesbanden
Martin Luther
tr. composite, alt.
