A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

 A mighty fortress is our God, 

a bulwark never failing;

Our helper He,

 amid the flood of mortal

 ills prevailing:

For still our ancient foe 

doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great,

 and, armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,

 our striving would be losing;

Were not the right Man on our side, 

the Man of God’s own choosing:

Dost ask who that may be?

 Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabath, His Name,

 from age to age the same,

And He must win the battle.

And though this world,

with devils filled,

 should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear,

 for God hath willed His truth

 to triumph through us:

The Prince of Darkness grim, 

we tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

 for lo, his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,

 no thanks to them, abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours

 through Him Who with us sideth:

Let goods and kindred go, 

this mortal life also;

The body they may kill:

 God’s truth abideth still,

His kingdom is forever.

The words and music of this song

were written by

the Great Reformer

 Martin Luther.

This song 

has been called 

“the great­est hymn of the great­est man

 of the great­est per­i­od of Ger­man his­to­ry”

 and the “Bat­tle Hymn of the Ref­or­ma­tion.”

It was sung at the fun­er­al

 of Amer­i­can Pre­si­dent Dwight D. Ei­sen­how­er 

at the Na­tion­al Ca­thed­ral, Wash­ing­ton, DC,

 in March 1969.