Voices Together ‎#210

210. O Come, O Come, Immanuel

1 O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here,
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.

2 O come, O come, thou God of law,
in cloud and majesty and awe.
Thy precepts, taught on Sinai’s height,
call us to lives both just and right. [Refrain]

3 O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
thine own from Satan’s tyranny.
From depths of hell thy people save,
and give them vict’ry o’er the grave. [Refrain]

4 O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death’s dark shadow put to flight. [Refrain]

5 O come, thou Key of David, come
and open wide our heav’nly home.
Make safe the way that leads to thee
and close the path to misery. [Refrain]

6 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 thy ways to go. [Refrain]

7 O come, Desire of nations, bind
all peoples in one heart and mind.
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease,
and fill the world with heaven’s peace. [Refrain]

Text Information

• First Line: O come, O come, Immanuel
• Title: O Come, O Come, Immanuel
• Translator (stanzas 1-5): John M. Neale
• Translator (stanzas 6-7): Henry Sloane Coffin
• Refrain First Line: Rejoice! Rejoice!
• Meter: LM with refrain
• Publication Date: 2020
• Scripture:
  Isaiah 7:14
  ;
  Isaiah 11:1
  ;
  Matthew 1:18-25
  ;
  Luke 1:68-80
• Topic: Covenant; Heritage: Before 1500; Jesus Christ: Images and Names of; Law; Liberation; Wisdom
• Source: anon., O Antiphons, ca. 8th-9th c.; “Veni, veni Emmanuel,” 12th c.; stanzas 1–5 trans. John M. Neale (England), Medieval Hymns and Sequences, 1851, alt.; stanzas 6–7 trans. Henry Sloane Coffiin (USA), Hymns of the Kingdom of God, 1916

Tune Information

• Name: VENI EMMANUEL
• Meter: LM with refrain
• Key: e minor
• Source: trope melody (present-day France), 15th c.