1 O come, O come, Immanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
R/Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel.
2 O come, O Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show
And teach us in its ways to go.
R/
3 O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times did give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
R/
4 O come, O Branch of Jesse's stem,
Unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
R/
5 O come, O Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe for us the heavenward road
And bar the way to death's abode.
R/
6 O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
And bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
And turn our darkness into light.
R/
7 O come, O King of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
And be yourself our King of Peace.
R/
Tr. John Mason Neale
REFLECTION
This is the most well known and beloved of Advent hymns in the popular mind. The longing for Christ to return is palpable in the very sounds of the hymn. Given the fiery sermon of John the Baptist in the lesson for today, the yearning for Christ to come is also frightening to some—and John means it to be. The one who is coming will put an end to our sinful ways—the axe is to the root.
And yet there are many who do long for the ending no matter how apocalyptic. They look forward to an ending of evil and the new kingdom of heaven to begin. When I sing it, I am struck with the melancholy longing in it, its Scriptural sources, and its venerable tradition. It brings me back to a cold night in the dark of a Northern European winter, hearing this plaintive cry for the light which marks the evenings in December. Like people that walk in great darkness. The prayer for healing our divisions and difficulties has rarely seemed so necessary. "Bind in one the hearts of all mankind. "So we pray for the Lord to come. O come, O come, Emmanuel!
HYMN INFO
This hymn is among our oldest Advent songs, one that emerged sometime in the 7th century, scholars think, and clearly came from the monastery. Its tune can be traced to 17th century France. It was sung every night during Vespers from December 17th until Christmas Eve, when the eighth O antiphon "O Virgin of Virgins," was sung before and after the Magnificat, the canticle always sung at Vespers. Each night during that week the community would add the next O antiphon. Those were titles for the coming Savior: Immanuel, Wisdom, Lord of Light, Branch of Jesse, Key of David, Bright and Morning Star, King of nations.
It comes to us through the work of John Mason Neale (1818-1868), the Anglican priest who spent his life translating Greek and Latin texts from the early and medieval church. Without him our hymns for the liturgical year would be scanty indeed. As the Christian church reeled from the French Revolution and its temporarily establishing Notre Dame as a Temple of Reason, many horrified Christians thought the church needed to reestablish its connection with the ancient church, anchoring itself more deeply in its tradition, some of which the Reformation had stripped away. In England there were two wings of the Anglican church at the beginning of the 19th century, the Evangelical or Low Church and what would be called the Broad church
When the winds of change from the French Revolution hit England, a new movement emerged called the Oxford Movement, which became known as the High Church wing of the church. It was led by John Henry Newman (1801-1890). His followers began restoring what they thought had been lost in the Reformation: the liturgical year, ancient hymnody, theological works, architecture, liturgical vestments.
Its first printing was in the Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum done in 1710. This preserved the Latin text. It was translated and included in the Hymnal Noted in 1851. (Noted means with music.) This tune was the one chosen. It was then printed in Hymns: Ancient and Modern which by the end of the century made the hymn text and tune popular. Neale had originally translated the first line as “Draw nigh, Draw nigh,” but by the 1861, it had been edited to "O Come, O Come."
LINKS
Choir of King’s College Cambridge
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Piano Guys/Piano and Cello/Lovely
Mótettukór Hallgrímskirkju Advent festival, see the lovely church https://youtu.be/_G0RB8ry3wo
Mathias Eick/Norwegian version folk instruments
Latin version
NB: Jesus the Harmony would make a nice Christmas present. It can be read devotionally over the entire year, one poem for every day.
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