Luther wrote the hymn probably in 1541 when a prayer service was held in Wittenberg against the perceived danger of the Turks when Ferdinand of Austria lost most of Hungary to the Ottoman Empire at Siege of Buda. The second line of the first verse reads "und steur' des Papsts und Türken Mord". Luther may have contributed the hymn for a boys' choir. It was published as a broadsheet in 1542. In Klug's hymnal Geistliche Lieder it was titled a "A hymn for the children to sing against the two arch-enemies of Christ, and His Holy Church, the Pope and the Turks". Luther wrote three stanzas, each one related to a person of the Trinity: "Erhalt uns, Herr", "Beweis dein Macht, Herr Jesu Christ", and "Gott, Heilger Geist". More stanzas were added in later editions, most prominently by Justus Jonas, who wrote probably in 1545, referring to the Council of Trent, two more stanzas, "Ihr Anschläg, Herr, zu nichte mach" and "So werden wir erkennen doch". These five stanzas appeared in Breslau in 1546 as No. 723 in Burg's hymnal. In hymnals at the time of Johann Sebastian Bach, "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" this combination of five stanzas was often continued by Luther's German version of Da pacem Domine, and a second stanza to it, as follows:
The sixth stanza is a prayer for peace, beginning "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich, Herr Gott, zu unsern Zeiten". The seventh stanza paraphrases, beginning "Gib unsern Fürsten und all'r Obrigkeit Fried und gut Regiment". In modern editions of "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort", the line against the Pope and the Turks was replaced by a more neutral wording against God's enemies in general. In the current Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch it is EG 193.
Melody and musical settings
Johann Walter adapted the melody, Zahn No. 350, from Da pacem Domine. It appeared first in Klug's hymnal in 1543 and resembles that of "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich", derived from the same source. wrote two choral settings in 1544. Dieterich Buxtehude composed a cantata, BuxWV 27, on all seven stanzas. Bach based in 1725 his chorale cantata Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, BWV 126, on the seven combined stanzas, retaining the text of stanzas 1, 3, 6 and 7 unchanged. Ernst Pepping composed a motet for men's chorusa cappella in 1957. Chorale preludes were written by Johann Pachelbel, Georg Böhm, and Hugo Distler, among others. Mauricio Kagel quoted the hymn in his oratorio Sankt-Bach-Passion telling Bach's life, composed for the tricentenary of Bach's birth in 1985.
Johannes Kulp : Die Lieder unserer Kirche. Eine Handreichung zum Evangelischen Kirchengesangbuch; Handbuch zum Evangelischen Kirchengesangbuch. Sonderband; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprechjt 1958; p. 230–233
Otto Schlißke, Handbuch der Lutherlieder. Göttingen 1948, p. 124-137
