Wohl dem, der in Gottes Furcht steht

Wohl dem, der in Gottes Furcht steht. Martin Luther* (1483-1546). This metrical version of Psalm 128 (‘Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord’) probably dates from 1524. It was published in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524), where it had five 4-line stanzas and was entitled ‘Der cxxviij Psalm, Beati omnes qui timent dominum’. It is not in EG: perhaps its celebration of a domestic happiness, with ‘Dyen weyb wird yn deym hause seyn’ (verse 2, ‘Thy wife shall be in thy house’), is no longer considered suitable. But it shows a tender side of Luther’s nature (he married in the following year), and it paints a delightful picture of a family with the children round the table,...