1. Why should cross and trial grieve me?
   Christ is here
   With His cheer;
   Never will He leave me.
   Who can rob me of the heaven
   That God’s Son
   For my own
   To my faith hath given?

2. Naked was I and unswathèd
   When on earth
   At my birth
   My first breath I breathed.
   Naked hence shall I betake me
   When I go
   From earth’s woe
   And my breath forsakes me.

3. Naught—not e’en the life I’m living—
   Is my own,
   God alone
   All to me is giving.
   Must I, then, His own restore Him?
   Though bereft
   Of each gift,
   Still shall I adore Him.

4. Though a heavy cross I’m bearing
   And my heart
   Feels the smart,
   Shall I be despairing?
   God, my Helper, who doth send it,
   Well doth know
   All my woe
   And how best to end it.

5. God oft gives me days of gladness;
   Shall I grieve
   If He give
   Seasons, too, of sadness?
   God is good and tempers ever
   All my ill,
   And He will
   Wholly leave me never.

6. Though united world and devil
   All their pow’r
   Can no more
   Do than mock and cavil.
   Let derision now employ them,
   Christ e’en here
   Will appear
   And ’fore all destroy them.

7. Hopeful, cheerful, and undaunted
   Ev’rywhere
   They appear
   Who in Christ are planted.
   Death itself cannot appall them,
   They rejoice
   When the voice
   Of their Lord doth call them.

8. Death cannot destroy forever;
   From our fears,
   Cares, and tears,
   It will us deliver.
   It will close life’s mournful story,
   Make a way
   That we may
   Enter heav’nly glory.

9. There I’ll reap enduring pleasure,
   After woe
   Here below
   Suffered in large measure.
   Lasting good we find here never,
   All the earth
   Deemeth worth
   Vanisheth forever.

10. What is all this life possesses?
    But a hand
    Full of sand
    That the heart distresses.
    Noble gifts that pall me never
    Christ, our Lord,
    Will accord
    To His saints forever.

11. Lord, my Shepherd, take me to Thee.
    Thou art mine;
    I was Thine,
    Even ere I knew Thee.
    I am Thine, for Thou hast bought me;
    Lost I stood,
    But Thy blood
    Free salvation brought me.

12. Thou art mine; I love and own Thee.
    Light of Joy,
    Ne’er shall I
    From my heart dethrone Thee.
    Savior, let me soon behold Thee
    Face to face—
    May Thy grace
    Evermore enfold me!

Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen
Paul Gerhard, 1653
Tr. composite, based on John Kelly, 1867
Source: Sts. 1, 4–5, 7–8, 10–12, The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, No. 523
Sts. 2–3, 6, 9 Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book, 1927, No. 501