Auferstehn, ja auferstehn wirst du

Written by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock following the death of his first wife, Meta Moller, on November 28, 1758, this poem on the resurrection of the body was first published in his Geistliche Lieder (Copenhagen, 1758, vol. i, p. 80) in five stanzas of five lines. It was famously sung by thousands gathered at Klopstock's burial beside Meta in the churchyard of Ottensen near Altona on March 22, 1803, and became widely used at Easter services.

The text entered English common use through Arthur Tozer Russell's version, "Thou my dust awaking from brief rest," published in his Psalms and Hymns (1851), which was later altered to "Thou wilt raise our bodies from brief rest" in Benjamin Hall Kennedy's Hymnologia Christiana (1863). Additional English translations were produced by Dr. A. Baskerville ("Arise, yes, yes, arise, O thou my dust," 1854), Jane Borthwick ("Thou shalt rise! my dust thou shalt arise," 1855), J. S. Stallybrass (1857), Elizabeth Fry (1859), C. S. Bere (1861), and Catherine Winkworth ("Rise again! yes, rise again wilt thou," 1869).