"von guten mächten" (by good forces) is a christian poem which dietrich bonhoeffer wrote in 1944 when he was in a gestapo prison because of his resistance to the nazis. it is his last theological text before he was executed on 9 april 1945. it became a frequently sung hymn, with different melodies, which has appeared in current german hymnals. the incipit is von guten mächten treu und still umgeben (by loving forces silently surrounded). the seventh and last stanza, von guten mächten wunderbar geborgen (by loving forces wonderfully sheltered), has been used as a refrain in a popular version.