The New English Hymnal ‎#505

505. Come rejoicing

1 Come rejoicing,
Faithful men, with rapture singing
Alleluya!

2 Monarchs' Monarch,
From a holy maiden springing,
Mighty wonder!

3 Angel of the Counsel here,
Sun from star he doth appear,
Born of maiden:

4 He a sun who knows no night,
She a star whose paler light
Fadeth never.

5 As a star its kindred ray,
Mary doth her Child display,
Like in nature;

6 Still undimmed the star shines on,
And the maiden bears a Son,
Pure as ever.

7 Lebanon his cedar tall
To the hyssop on the wall
Lowly bendeth;

8 From the highest, him we name
Word of God, to human frame
Now descendeth.

9 Yet the synagogue denied
What Esaias had descried:
Blindness fell upon the guide.

10 If her prophets speak in vain,
Let her heed a gentile strain,
And, from mystic Sybil, gain
Light and leading.

11 No longer then delay,
Hear what the Scriptures say,
Why be cast away
A race forlorn?

12 Turn and this Child behold,
That very Son, of old
In God's writ foretold,
A maid hath borne.

Text Information

• First Line: Come rejoicing
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1986
• Topic: Christmas Sequence
• Source: 11th century or earlier

Tune Information

• Name: LAETABUNDUS
• Key: e minor
• Source: Mode v
• Copyright: Arr. by permission of Oxford University Press (from "English Hymnal," 1933)