Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält

Wo gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält. Justus Jonas* (1493-1555). Jonas’s version of Psalm 124 was first published in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524). It had eight 7-line stanzas. It is found in EG in six stanzas, of which 3 and 4 are by Luther*, from his version, ‘Der cxxiiij Psalm, Nisi quia dominus etc.’ (Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, III. 17-18). The full text of Jonas’s metrical psalm is at DDK III. 42. The remaining stanzas by Jonas are the original stanzas 1, 2, 6 and 8 (now stanzas 1, 2, 5 and 6). Omitted are his stanzas 3 (‘Sie wueten fast und faren her’), 4 (‘Sie stellen uns wie ketzern nach’), 5 (‘Außsperren sy den rachen weyt’, and 7 (‘Die feynd synd all...