HEere! keere van ons af
A Plea for Divine Favor
The petitioner calls upon the Lord to turn away His wrath and enlighten His people with His grace.
Lord! Turn your angry face away from us, and through this punishment we deserve, enlighten our blinded understanding, so that your kind face may shine over us, and your chosen people may at last go in peace.1
Deliverance from the Enemy
A prayer for the Lord to restrain the power of the enemy and restore the people to the safety of His Church.
Curb and bridle the Enemy's power, which throws everything into such turmoil.2 Lord! Appear just once with such power that he must leave the field, and your people, after such a work, may at last go up safely into your dear holy Church, to praise you night and day.3
Submission to the Divine Will
The prayer concludes with a humble request for patience and trust in God's sovereign providence during ongoing trials.
Yet if it should please you to leave us still longer in this calamity, give us patience, Lord, and let your will be done—for you surely and certainly can best know and provide what we need most.
Read the original Latin
HEere! keere van ons af U vertoorent aengesicht, En door dees verdiende straf, Ons verblint verstant verlicht; Dat u vriendelyck gelaet Lichtend over ons mach staen, En u uytverkoren saet Eens toch mach met vreden gaen.
Toomt en breydelt 'sVyants macht, Die't dus al in roeren stelt. Heer! verschijnt eens so met kracht Dat hy ruymen mach het velt, En u volck, naer sulcken werck, Veylig eenmael opgaen mach In u lieve heyl'ge Kerck, U te loven nacht en dag.
Doch so't u believen sal Dat ghy ons noch langer sult Laten in dit ongeval, Geef ons, Heere, toch gedult, En laet uwen wil geschien: Want ghy seker en gewis Best kont weten en voorsien Wat ons meest van noden is.
Notes
- 1 ↩Dutch 'uytverkoren saet' is elect/covenant 'seed'; rendered 'chosen people' for modern readability while keeping election sense.
- 2 ↩'sVyants is Early Modern Dutch for des vijands: the Adversary/Enemy (typically the devil), not a human foe.
- 3 ↩ruymen ... het velt is a battlefield idiom: yield/clear the field (the Enemy driven off). opgaen keeps the ascent/entry image into the Church rather than a flat 'attend'.
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