Im Lutheran Service Book (LCMS, 2006) findet sich unter Nummer 327 die englischsprachige Fassung des Klepper-Lieds „Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen“ unter dem Titel „The Night Will Soon Be Ending“, die Herman G. Stuempfle (1923-2007) besorgt hatte. Seinerzeit hatte The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod beschlossen, an Stelle der uns geläufigen Melodie von Johannes Petzold eine walisische Volksweise vorzuziehen mit folgender Begründung: „This is a strong and forceful tune, well suited for the text; but it is not particularly easy to learn, and the committee preparing HS98 decided that the difficulty to satisfaction ratio was high enough that the hymn might not be used. The committee therefore decided to set this text to the Welsh tune llangloffan, whose composer is unknown but which first appeared in 1865 in the Hymnau a thonau of Daniel Evans.“ (Joseph Herl in: Hymnal Supplement 98. Handbook, S. 61)
The Night Will Soon Be Ending (Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen)
1. The night will soon be ending
The dawn cannot be far.
Let songs of praise ascending
Now greet the Morning Star!
All you whom darkness frightens
With guilt or grief or pain,
God’s radiant Star now brightens
And bids you sing again.
2. The One whom angels tended
Comes near, a child, to serve;
Thus God, the judge offended,
Bears all our sins deserve.
The guilty need not cower,
For God has reconciled
Through His redemptive power
All those who trust this child.
3. The earth in sure rotation
Will soon bring morning bright,
So run where God’s salvation
Glows in a stable’s light.
As old as sin’s perversion
Is mercy’s vast design:
God brings a new creation —
This child its seal and sign.
4. Yet nights will bring their sadness
And rob our hearts of peace,
And sin in all its madness
Around us may increase.
But now one Star is beaming
Whose rays have pierced the night:
God comes for our redeeming
From sin’s oppressive might.
5. God dwells with us in darkness
And makes the night as day;
Yet we resist the brightness
And turn from God away.
But grace does not forsake us,
However far we run.
God claim us still as children
Through Mary’s infant son.
Text: Jochen Klepper, 1903-42; tr. Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr. 1923-2007.
NAMENSgedächtnis 