Most American hymnals use versions of "Ein' feste Burg" that begin A mighty fortress is our God. I'd never seen the HA&M version Nigel quoted from. What version or versions of HA&M does it appear in (after all, the title has been updated repeatedly for more than a century).

And speaking of updating, GuestDan, God has a vast linguistic repertoire; in seeking to express ourselves creatively in 16th century English, we seek only to imitate our Maker.

BTW, anybody have the music for the Marvin O. Bagman hymn (definitely not one that would cut the mustard for sticklers like Joe F, who would dismiss it on genre grounds) Jesus Is the Telephone Repairman on the Switchboard of My Life, two verses of which are cited in Good Omens (pp. 249 and 251)? ;-)

Haruo