Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

LSB #619 "Thy Body, Given for Me, O Savior"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Corinthians 11:23-29, Luke 22:17-20, Romans 8:33-39

1 Corinthians 11:23-29:  "23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.'  25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'  26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

"27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.  28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement on himself."

Luke 22:17-20:  "17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, 'Take this, and divide it among yourselves.  18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.'  19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.'  20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.'"

Romans 8:33-39:  "33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?  It is God who justifies.  34 Who is to condemn?  Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  36 As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

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The passages from 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 and Luke 22:17-20 are the main sources for the hymn and appear most clearly in the first verse and the refrain.  The text from Romans 8 appears in the third and fourth verses.  Specifically, Romans 8:33 is at the beginning of the third verse ("Who can condemn me now?  For surely / The Lord is nigh, who justifies."), and Romans 8:38-39 is in the fourth verse.