Fish the Right

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Words: Martin Luther; translated by Frederic H. Hedge · Tune: EIN FESTE BURG, Martin Luther

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Organ and orchestra: an introduction, then each of the 4 verses. Tap a verse’s number to start there.
  1. A mighty fortress is our God,A bulwark never failing;Our helper He, amid the floodOf mortal ills prevailing:For still our ancient foeDoth seek to work us woe;His craft and pow'r are great,And, armed with cruel hate,On earth is not his equal.
  2. Did we in our own strength confide,Our striving would be losing;Were not the right Man on our side,The Man of God's own choosing:Dost ask who that may be?Christ Jesus, it is He;Lord Sabaoth His name,From age to age the same,And He must win the battle.
  3. And though this world, with devils filled,Should threaten to undo us,We will not fear, for God hath willedHis truth to triumph through us:The prince of darkness grim,We tremble not for him;His rage we can endure,For lo, his doom is sure;One little word shall fell him.
  4. That word above all earthly pow'rs,No thanks to them, abideth;The Spirit and the gifts are oursThrough Him who with us sideth:Let goods and kindred go,This mortal life also;The body they may kill:God's truth abideth still;His kingdom is forever.

About this hymn

Words
Martin Luther, 1529; translated by Frederic H. Hedge, 1852. As printed in Hallowed Hymns, New and Old (1908), no. 206.
Tune
EIN FESTE BURG, Martin Luther, 1529.
Harmony
Common Service Book (United Lutheran Church), 1917. Rhythm adjusted to fit Hedge’s words by the Open Hymnal Project, which places its own work in the public domain. Score from the Open Hymnal Project.
Recordings
Arranged and recorded by Fish the Right, from the harmony above: the melody note for note and every chord the hymnal’s own. Played on the Salamander Grand Piano V3 by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0), with organ, strings, brass and timpani from VSCO 2 Community Edition by Versilian Studios (the organ sampled by Simon Dalzell); drums from Virtuosity Drums and bass from Black And Blue Basses by Versilian Studios and Karoryfer Samples; pads from GeneralUser GS by S. Christian Collins; made with abcMIDI, sfizz, FluidSynth and FFmpeg.
Rights
Words 1529, translation 1852, tune 1529, setting 1917: all published before 1931, so public domain in the United States. Checked: words (hymnary.org), translation (hymnary.org), tune (hymnary.org), harmony (openhymnal.org).
Scripture
Psalms 46:1–11