December 17, 2006

Veni Emmanuel

o come, o come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel.

o come, thou Wisdom from on high,
and order all things far and nigh;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and cause us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel.

o come, o come, great Lord of might,
who to the tribes on sinai's height
in ancient times once gave the law
in cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel.

o come, thou Root of jesse's tree,
an ensign of thy people be
before thee rulers silent fall
all peoples on Thy mercy fall.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel.

o come, thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home;
make safe the way that leads on high,
and close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel.

o come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by Thy presence here
disperse the gloomy clouds of night
and death's dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel.

o come, Desire of Nations, bind
all peoples in one heart and mind
from dust Thou bro't us forth to life
deliver us from earthly strife.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel!

3 comments:

Lynn Bruce said...

When I think of this carol, in my head I always hear Jessye Norman singing it, from her Christmastide cd. Amazing, just amazing. Spine-tingling stuff. Everyone needs to hear it.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. I'm feeling a little shallow now for posting "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." ;-)

Anonymous said...

I love that song.