The angels came from heaven
The angel came from heaven is a Christmas carol published by Martin Luther in 1543 .
content
The song already followed the song Vom Himmel hoch in its first publication , there I come from under the title: Another Christian song / in the previous thon . Both songs develop the proclamation to the shepherds ( Lk 2,8-14 Lut ). The first song, designed in the form of a nursery rhyme, followed the literal Christmas message of the Annunciation Angel in the first person ( I bring you a good new story ) ( Lk 2.9–12 Lut ) the jubilant echo of the addressees. This is followed in this song by the description of the appearance of the “angel crowd” following the proclamation ( Lk 2,13 Lut ): The narrative introduction (Str. 1, lines 1–3) precedes the angelic jubilation, which is designed as a literal speech. After the succinct message of the promised child and savior in Bethlehem (str. 1–2), the call to rejoicing goes out to the hearers because of the incarnation of God in flesh and blood (str. 3) and as God's generation (str. 6), which triumphs over sin and death, devil and hell (Str. 4) and temptation (Str. 5).
melody
Luther drew the melody of the secular song to his song . I approach this dance with pleasure .
text
1) The angels came from heaven and
appeared clearly to the shepherds;
they said to him ': "A child tender,
that lies hard there in the crib.
2) at Bethlehem, in David's city,
as Micah announced,
it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is
the Savior of all of you.
3) You should all
rejoice that God has become one with you.
He was born your flesh and blood,
your brother is the eternal good.
4) What can sin and death do to you guys?
You have the true God with you;
let the devil and hell be angry, the
Son of God has become your companion.
5) He will not and cannot leave you, you
put your confidence on him;
It may challenge you a lot:
be defiant of that who cannot help it.
6) In the end you must be right,
you have now become God's generation.
Thank God for eternity,
patiently, happily at all times.
The song can be found in the Evangelical Hymnal (EG 25).
It was u. a. arranged by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 607) for organ and Johannes Weyrauch (WeyWV 55,5) for choir.
literature
- Gerhard Hahn (T.), Hans-Otto Korth (M.): 25 - The angels came from heaven . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 12 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-525-50335-0 , p. 25–31 ( limited preview in Google Book search).