WIlt heden Nu treden Voor God den Heere;
A Call to Praise and Integrity
The believer is exhorted to praise God for His deliverance and to maintain a life of justice and integrity.
Come today and step before God the Lord; praise Him above all, with all your heart, and magnify the honor of His dear name—He who now strikes our enemy down. In honor of our Lord, all your days, be sure to keep this wonder especially in mind. Conduct yourself, O man,1 always to bear yourself well before God; do everyone justice, and guard yourself against deceit.✦
Watchfulness Against the Adversary
The faithful are warned of the enemy's prowling nature and urged to remain vigilant through prayer and piety.
Among the guileless, the Evil One goes thrashing and roaring like a lion, looking for something to seize — seeking whom he may cruelly devour, or deal a deadly blow.2 Pray, stay alert, and be careful not to fall into temptation and evil, to your own harm. Your piety throws the enemy into confusion, even where his kingdom is still twice as strongly held.✦3
Read the original Latin
WIlt heden Nu treden Voor God den Heere; Hem boven Al loven,, Van herten seer, End'maken groot syns lieven naemens eere, Die daer nu onsen vyand slaet ter neer.
Ter eeren Ons Heeren, Wilt al u dagen, Dit wonder Bysonder Gedencken toch. Maeckt u , o mensch! voor God steets wel te dragen, Doet yder recht, en wacht u voor bedrog.
D'arg-losen, Den boosen Om yet te vinden, Loopt driesschen , En briesschen Gelyck een Leeu, Soeckende wie hy wreedelyck verslinden, Of geven mocht een doodelycke preeu .
Bid, waket End' maket Dat g'in bekoring End' 'tquade Met schade Toch niet en valt. U vroomheyt brengt de vyand tot verstoring, Alwaer syn ryck noch eens soo sterck bewalt.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩Early Modern Dutch 'Maeckt u' with following 'wel te dragen' is a split hortative meaning 'conduct/comport yourself,' not 'make yourself' in a creative sense.
- 2 ↩Early modern Dutch 'preeu' is rendered as 'blow' (a deadly stroke); less likely readings include a deadly trial or wound.
- 3 ↩bewalt is read as ‘held/ruled’ (from bewalden/bewallen); if the intended sense is ‘walled/fortified,’ the line would mean his realm is still twice as strongly fortified.
Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck (Netherlands Memorial Songs) companion
Never lose the rhythm again
Chosen Portion delivers your morning, midday and night office to your phone — the Hours, without the bells.
Chosen Portion is a modern Book of Hours: it turns the fixed-hour structure this collection preserves into scheduled, tappable daily prayer on your phone.
- Three daily prayer moments scheduled around your real calendar, not a monastery's
- Psalms and historic prayers sequenced for you — no page-flipping or decision fatigue
- A visible streak of completed offices, so the rhythm compounds instead of collapsing