Be Still, My Soul! -Katharina von Schlegel, translated by Jane L. Borthwick

Two gifted women from two different countries gave the English-speaking world this beautiful hymn of comfort. “Be Still, My Soul!” was originally written in German by Katharina von Schlegel in 1752 and published that year in Neue Sammlung geistlicher Lieder (“A New Collection of Spiritual Songs”). Her name suggests that she came from an aristocratic family in Germany. By the eighteenth century, the European Reformation had lost much of its zeal, and the church had become a place of dead formality. Katharina was among those of the Pietistic movement who stressed the preaching of the whole Bible that included the need for repentance and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, as did the Wesley Revivals in England. Hymn-singing was a vital part of this movement, and it’s believed that Katharina wrote almost thirty hymns influenced by Pietism. “Be Still, My Soul!” is her only hymn translated into English.

Jane L. Borthwick, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, translated the hymn from German into English in 1855, more than a century after it was first published. Jane and her sister Sarah were born to an old Scottish family in Edinburgh. The sisters were among noted translators of some of Germany’s finest hymns. They had a deep love for German hymnody and often worked closely together. Their first book of translations, “Hymns from the Land of Luther,” began a series of more than one hundred hymn translations. “Be Still, My Soul!” was originally written in six stanzas, but only five were translated into English, with many hymnals including only three stanzas.

The popularity of this hymn is partly because of the beautiful lyrical tune “Finlandia” that is most commonly used. The tune is from an orchestral piece written in 1899 by Finland’s best-known composer, Jean Sibelius. He composed the music as a patriotic tribute to express the beauty of his native land. The song was first associated with “Finlandia” in 1927 when the Welsh musician and scholar David Evans arranged the tune for the “Scottish Church Hymnary.” This musical setting was then introduced in America in the 1933 “Presbyterian Hymnal.”  The arrangement is well-suited for harmony singing by congregations and choirs.

This hymn offers comfort and assurance for the believer. There’s a sense that the author or someone close to her experienced dark times and deep sadness in life. “Be still” is similar to the military command to “stand down.” The Lord will fight the battles, and the believer’s victory in Him is assured. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10).

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