1. From Adam, while long ages ran,
   Corrupted was the flesh of man,
   Sick unto death were body, soul,
   In all his nature naught was whole.

2. Fast bound we lay in sore distress,
   Beneath the sway of sin and death;
   We sank into the depths of hell,
   And none could help our anguish quell.

3. God looked from out His holy hill
   To find but one who did His will,
   A man made after His own heart,
   But naught but flesh and blood appeared.

4. Yea, holiness that justifies
   And righteousness that life supplies
   In Adam perished from the earth,
   From whom all sinners have their birth.

5. When He beheld our grievous wound,
   Nor helper nor physician found,
   He thought upon His mighty love,
   His Word e’er firmly fixed above.

6. Spake He, My mercy now be done:
   For all the world I’ll give My Son,
   Their great Physician in distress,
   To grant them health and blessedness.

7. To Abraham an oath He swore,
   To David’s house forevermore:
   A Son He promised He would give,
   Through whom the dying world would live.

8. To prophets too He made it known,
   And through their mouth the Word was sown;
   Good men of high and low estate
   For ages long did Him await.

9. Though much they longed for this delight,
   It was not granted them by sight,
   Yet they this comfort had by faith:
   Ere long they’d be redeemed and saved.

10. At last the proper time arrived
    Which Jacob once had prophesied:
    A virgin maiden was espoused
    Unto a man of David’s house.

11. In her His mighty pow’r He wrought,
    From virgin mother forth He brought
    The promised Child, both pure and blest,
    With grace and truth alike possessed.

12. O Christ, Thou blessed virgin’s Seed,
    In purest chastity conceived,
    Thy blessing grant, and make us free,
    Our Savior, Health, and Comfort be.

Von Adam her so lange Zeit
Michael Weisse, 1531
Tr. Christopher J. Neuendorf, 2018