O
Come, O Come, Immanuel
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is a prayer that anticipates the
coming of Christ to this earth. His coming as the Messiah
(“deliverer”) was first prophesied in the sixth century B.C., when
the Jews were captive in Babylon.
For centuries thereafter, faithful Hebrews looked for their
Messiah with great longing and expectation, echoing the prayer that he
would “ransom captive Israel.”
Jesus Christ the Redeemer—capstone of man’s longing through
the ages—is addressed in the first stanza of this hymn as
“Emmanuel.”
From beginning to end, all the stanzas of the hymn remind us of
Christ’s first advent, and project our attention to His second coming.
1
O Come, O come, Immanuel,
And
ransom captive Israel,
That
mourns in lonely exile here
Until
the Son of God appear.
Rejoice!
rejoice! Immanuel
Shall
come to thee, O Israel!
2
O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine
own from Satan’s tyranny;
From
depths of hell thy people save,
And
give them victory o’er the grave.
Rejoice!
rejoice! Immanuel
Shall
come to thee, O Israel!
3
O come, thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our
spirits by thine advent here;
Disperse
the gloomy clouds of night,
And
death’s dark shadows put to flight
Rejoice!
rejoice! Immanuel
Shall
come to thee, O Israel!
4
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! Immanuel
Shall
come to thee, O Israel!
5
O come, O come, thou Lord of might!
Who
to thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In
ancient times didst give the law
In
cloud, and majesty, and awe.
Rejoice!
rejoice! Immanuel
Shall
come to thee, O Israel!
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