A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
The famous one. Grimmer than its reputation, and Psalm 46 underneath.
The words are public domain. We print a hymn only after checking it word for word against a dated old printing, and this one hasn’t been checked yet. Hymnary has it now.
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
Everyone knows the first line, and the first line does the hymn a disservice. It is not a triumphal march. It is a psalm about being under siege, and it spends most of its length taking the threat entirely seriously.
The turn comes late, and it is not that the danger was overstated. It is that one word can end it, and that our own strength was never going to be the thing that did.
Reformation Sunday, obviously. Also funerals, where the fourth stanza has a habit of landing harder than anyone expected.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Martin Luther, 1529 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | Composite translation, 1866 (English Lutheran), 1866 | Public domain |
| Tune | EIN FESTE BURG · Martin Luther, 1529 | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against hymnary.org text, tune and person pages (attribution and rights only)
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.