Who Knows when Death May Overtake Me
Who knows when death may overtake me
Who Knows when Death May Overtake Me is a hymn text by Martin Behm (1610) in L.M. (8.8.8.8) meter. Translated by Catherine Winkworth. Found in ELH 483, lsb 598, lw 293, tlh 598. Sung to WIE SCHÖN LEUCHTET.
This hymn reflects Lutheran teaching on human sinfulness, the certainty of death, and the necessity of constant spiritual readiness through repentance and faith. It emphasizes the Law's role in driving sinners to awareness of judgment while pointing to God's mercy as the only hope.
History & Background
Written by German pastor Martin Behm in the early 17th century as a meditation on human mortality and divine judgment. The hymn was first published in German hymnals and later translated into English by Catherine Winkworth in her influential collection of 1863.
Hymnal Appearances
- Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary — 483
- Lutheran Service Book — 598
- Lutheran Worship — 293
- The Lutheran Hymnal — 598
Translation
Bulletin Note
Written by Martin Behm in 1610, this Lutheran hymn confronts mortality with unflinching honesty, then anchors faith in divine mercy. The tune Wie Schön Leuchtet carries both gravity and hope.
Preaching Connection
This hymn embodies the Law's proper work—awakening us to judgment and mortality—while pointing relentlessly to the Gospel's promise: God's mercy is our only refuge when earthly certainties fail.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: From eschatological vision of the redeemed (st. 1-2) through assurance of eternal comfort (st. 3) to exhortation for present faith alignment (st. 4); movement from indicative promise to imperative response
Background Research
TLH 598. "Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende" by Countess Ämilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, an early Pietist with 587 surviving hymns. Written and published in 1686 (Wikipedia). It has twelve 6-line stanzas in the first person. The last two lines of eleven stanzas repeat the plea that God, through Christ's blood, make my end good, and the twelfth stanza answers that plea. The countess held daily meditations on death using her own hymns. Sung to Neumark's WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT (1657). Bach used it in three cantatas, including BWV 27 (1726, 16th Sunday after Trinity), whose opening chorus sets stanza 1 with interpolated recitatives. EG 530. She was the sister-in-law who encouraged Ludämilia Elisabeth (TLH 348, r775).
In the Church Year
Suggested in the one-year series
- Trinity 15 (1×)
From LCMS Worship's published hymn suggestions, 2014–2026. The count is how many of those yearly lists suggested this hymn for that day.
Overview
A great Lutheran hymn on preparing for death by Countess Aemilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Every stanza ends 'My God, for Jesus' sake I pray / Thy peace may bless my dying day.' Death may come any time (st. 1-2). Teach me to ponder my end, repent and cast myself on Christ (st. 3), set my house in order (st. 4), and see heaven's sweetness against earth's bitterness (st. 5). My sins are blotted out (st. 6); nothing separates me from Jesus (st. 7). My Baptism (st. 8) and my Communion (st. 9) assure me, so death may come today or tomorrow (st. 10); I live content and die without fear (st. 11).
Central theme: Daily readiness for death grounded in Christ's pardon, Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Structure
Eleven six-line stanzas (9.8.9.8.8.8) with a refrain couplet. Uncertainty (1-2); preparation (3-5); pardon and union (6-7); the sacraments (8-9); confidence (10-11).
Law & Gospel Shape
Law: 'Death's threat is never far away'; 'repentant sighs and tears'; 'Earth's galling bitterness' (2-3, 5). Gospel: 'Jesus has my pardon won'; 'I put on Christ'; 'His body and His blood I've taken'; 'in Christ I perish not' (6, 8-10).
Confessional Connections
Ps 90:12 (TLH's text): 'Teach us to number our days.' The refrain prays 'for Jesus' sake', grace on account of Christ (AC IV). St. 3 joins repentance and faith: casting 'my soul on Christ' with 'repentant sighs' (AC XII: contrition and faith). St. 8-9 are the heart of the hymn and very Lutheran: the dying Christian is comforted by the sacraments as objective pledges. Baptism: 'I put on Christ' (Gal 3:27; SC Baptism; LC Baptism: 'I am baptized!'). The Supper: 'His body and His blood I've taken… For I am His, and He is mine' (AC X; SC Sacrament of the Altar: forgiveness, life and salvation). St. 7: touching His wounded side is faith's grasp of the crucified and risen Christ (John 20:27-28).
Liturgical Use (Study Notes)
Funerals; preparation for death; New Year's Eve; Trinity 16; Last Sundays of the Church Year.
Historical Notes
Aemilie Juliane (1637-1706), Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, wrote some 600 hymns. This one dates from 1686. The German refrain is 'Mein Gott, ich bitt durch Christi Blut, / mach's nur mit meinem Ende gut.' TLH abridges the original.
About the Tune
WER WEISS, WIE NAHE MIR MEIN ENDE (TLH: Christian Möck, 1818). It is also sung to WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT.
Scripture References
Ps 90:12 Jas 4:13-14 Ps 39:4-5 Luke 12:20 Matt 24:44 2 Kgs 20:1 Matt 26:39 2 Cor 4:17-18 Isa 43:25 Ps 51:9 Rom 8:35-39 John 20:27-28 Gal 3:27 Rom 6:3-5 1 Cor 10:16 Matt 26:26-28 Song 2:16 John 11:25-26 Rev 7:14 Phil 4:11 Rom 14:8
Stanza by Stanza
Who knows when death may catch up with me! Time goes on and my end comes closer. How quickly my breath can leave me! How soon life's last hour can arrive! My God, for Jesus' sake I pray that your peace may bless my dying day.
'What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes' (Jas 4:14). 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you' (Luke 12:20). Refrain: 'My God, for Jesus' sake I pray / Thy peace may bless my dying day.'
- Scripture
- Jas 4:13-14, Luke 12:20, Ps 90:12
- Imagery & language
- Death overtaking; time; breath; last hour; peace.
- Law / Gospel
- Law: mortality. Gospel: peace for Jesus' sake.
- Connection to previous
- Who knows?
The world that smiled at dawn may change for me before the day ends; while I make my home on earth, the threat of death is never far away.
'LORD, make me know my end… how fleeting I am!' (Ps 39:4). 'The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect' (Matt 24:44).
- Scripture
- Ps 39:4-5, Matt 24:44
- Imagery & language
- Smiling morn; changed by evening; death's threat.
- Law / Gospel
- Law: uncertainty.
- Connection to previous
- Morning to evening.
Teach me always to think about my end and, before the hour of death comes, to throw my soul on Christ my Savior and not hold back the sighs and tears of repentance.
'Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom' (Ps 90:12). 'Casting all your anxieties on him' (1 Pet 5:7). 'A broken and contrite heart' (Ps 51:17). AC XII.
- Scripture
- Ps 90:12, 1 Pet 5:7, Ps 51:17
- Imagery & language
- Ponder my end; cast soul on Christ; repentant tears.
- Law / Gospel
- Law: repentance. Gospel: refuge in Christ.
- Connection to previous
- Ponder my end.
Help me set my house in order now, so that I may always be ready to say meekly at the edge of death: Lord, do with me as you will.
'Set your house in order, for you shall die' (2 Kgs 20:1). 'Not as I will, but as you will' (Matt 26:39). 'You also must be ready' (Matt 24:44).
- Scripture
- 2 Kgs 20:1, Matt 26:39, Matt 24:44
- Imagery & language
- House in order; readiness; Thy will.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: surrender to God's will.
- Connection to previous
- House in order.
Show me the sweetness of your heaven and lay bare the bitter galling of this earth; amid this tearing turmoil, may I see your blessed eternity.
'Light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory… we look not to the things that are seen' (2 Cor 4:17-18).
- Scripture
- 2 Cor 4:17-18, Col 3:1-2
- Imagery & language
- Heaven's sweetness; earth's bitterness; eternity beheld.
- Law / Gospel
- Law: the world's bitterness. Gospel: heaven's sweetness.
- Connection to previous
- Heaven's sweetness.
Blot out my many sins forever, since Jesus has won my pardon; robed in mercy, I will never fear death then, but trust in you alone.
'I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake' (Isa 43:25). 'Blot out all my iniquities' (Ps 51:9). 'Washed their robes… white in the blood of the Lamb' (Rev 7:14).
- Scripture
- Isa 43:25, Ps 51:9, Rev 7:14
- Imagery & language
- Sins blotted; pardon won; robed in mercy; trust alone.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: pardon won by Jesus.
- Connection to previous
- Pardon won.
Nothing will cut my soul off from Jesus; in faith I touch his wounded side and greet him as my Lord forever. Neither life nor death will separate us.
'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' (Rom 8:35). 'Put out your hand, and place it in my side… My Lord and my God!' (John 20:27-28). 'Neither death nor life…' (Rom 8:38).
- Scripture
- Rom 8:35-39, John 20:27-28
- Imagery & language
- Not severed; wounded side; my Lord; life nor death.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: inseparable union.
- Connection to previous
- Wounded side.
Once, in the blessed waters of Baptism, I put on Christ and made him mine; now, counted among God's sons and daughters, I share his peace and divine love.
'As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ' (Gal 3:27). 'Baptized into his death… we too might walk in newness of life' (Rom 6:3-4). LC Baptism: 'I am baptized!'
- Scripture
- Gal 3:27, Rom 6:3-5, Gal 3:26
- Imagery & language
- Baptismal waters; put on Christ; God's children; peace.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: Baptism as present comfort.
- Connection to previous
- Baptized.
I have received his body and his blood in his blessed Supper, a divine feast; now I will never be abandoned, for I am his and he is mine.
'This is my body… this is my blood of the covenant… for the forgiveness of sins' (Matt 26:26-28). 'The cup of blessing… is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?' (1 Cor 10:16). 'My beloved is mine, and I am his' (Song 2:16). AC X.
- Scripture
- Matt 26:26-28, 1 Cor 10:16, Song 2:16, Heb 13:5
- Imagery & language
- Body and blood taken; Supper; never forsaken; mutual belonging.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: the Supper as pledge.
- Connection to previous
- The Supper.
So let death come today or tomorrow; I know that in Christ I do not perish. He gives the peace that stills all sorrow and gives me a robe without a spot.
'Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die' (John 11:26). 'Should not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16). 'Without spot or wrinkle' (Eph 5:27).
- Scripture
- John 11:25-26, John 3:16, Eph 5:27
- Imagery & language
- Today, tomorrow; perish not; peace; spotless robe.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: unconditional confidence.
- Connection to previous
- Today or tomorrow.
And so I live content in God and die without any fear; my soul has agreed to God's plans, for through his Son my faith is clear.
'I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content' (Phil 4:11). 'Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's' (Rom 14:8).
- Scripture
- Phil 4:11, Rom 14:8, Heb 2:15
- Imagery & language
- Content; without fear; consent; faith clear.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: contentment in life and death.
- Connection to previous
- Content.
Themes
Mortality and readiness for death Trust in God's providence Repentance and amendment of life Preparation for eternity Divine judgment and mercy