Beautiful Savior
Jesus is fairer than meadows, woods, sun and moon; a German hymn from 1677 in Seiss's translation.
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.
“Beautiful Savior” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
This hymn praises Jesus as Lord of all creation. It names the meadows, the woods, the sunshine, the moonlight and the stars, and says Jesus is fairer and purer than all of them.
It rests on Colossians 1:15-17, where all things were created through Christ and hold together in him.
It is sung at any time, often on Transfiguration Sunday. The German original was printed in Münster in 1677. Joseph A. Seiss, a Lutheran pastor in Philadelphia, made this English translation in 1873.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Anonymous (Münster Gesangbuch), 1677 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | Joseph Augustus Seiss, 1873 | Public domain |
| Tune | SCHÖNSTER HERR JESU (ST. ELIZABETH) · Silesian folk tune | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against hymnary.org text, tune and person pages (attribution and rights only). The words are not transcribed here yet.
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.