Christ lag in Todesbanden

Christ lay within death's prison,
For our offences given,
But now our Lord is risen
And doth our souls enliven;
Let us therefore joyful be,
Praise God and to him thankful be:
And raise our Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!

None could ever hope to win
Against the grave's resisting;
'Twas the wages of our sin,
No good in us existing.
Therefore fast did death devour,
Wielded o'er us mighty pow'r,
Held us within his kingdom helpless.
Hallelujah!

Jesus Christ, the son of God,
Into our place proceeded,
And casting all our sins abroad
Hath now the grave defeated.
All its right and pow'r are gone;
Not e’en the form of death lives on:
O death, where is thy stinging!
Hallelujah!

It was a wondrous fight to see
When death and life contested,
But life hath claimed the victory—
The grave is surely bested.
Scripture had foretold this doom:
How one death would death consume
And make itself a thing to mock.
Hallelujah!

Here is the perfect Paschal Lamb
Which God for us hath proffered,
And spitted on the cross, with flame
Of highest love hath offered.
His blood covers now our door
By faith to halt death and its pow’r;
The reaper can no longer harm us.
Hallelujah!

So now we eat the holy feast
Without a trace of sadness;
The Lord our hearts with bliss hath blest—
He is the sun of gladness.
In the goodness of his grace,
He makes our hearts his shining-place;
The night of sin is over.
Hallelujah!

We eat, and endless life we gain
From living bread unleavened;
The yeast of sin cannot remain
Beside the grace of heaven.
Christ alone the food must be
To keep the soul eternally;
Our faith no other way may live.
Hallelujah!

—Martin Luther (from Victimae paschali laudes), trans Z. Pletan
Tune: "Christ lag in Todesbanden", Martin Luther, arr. Johann Walter (MIDI)

Thoughts

This is one of the most amazing hymns, and I don't understand why it hasn't earned a place in English Christian culture beside Luther's "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God". It's not any more complicated, as far as I can tell. It's one of the best hymnodic connections between Easter, Passover, and Communion that I've ever seen. And to cap it all, it's a beautiful articulation of the Gospel.

There's a really good translation of this by Richard Massie, probably more polished than mine (and I envy some of the phrasing in his penultimate verse), but I think my version recommends itself on two levels. The first is that it is more literal (not literal, but more literal), and I really like that. The second is that by following Luther's rougher meter exactly, it is almost a drop-in English replacement in Bach's chorale cantata of this hymn. The music is another level of exposition entirely on top of the hymn, elucidating much of it, and is just gorgeous besides, so I will end with that. (You can open play.spotify.com in your browser if you don't have the Spotify client installed; it only requires a Facebook login.)