O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Emmanuel - God with us...



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,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice!Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satas tyrnanny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice!Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

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!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, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy 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 call.
Rejoice! Rejoice!Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice!Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Thank you cyberhymnal for the lyrics...

I've always LOVED this hymn. Even before I came back to church, this felt like Christmas to me... well before I realized the reason for Advent (the little Lent). The advent - the coming of Christ among us, to dwell with us, and to be in us...

We were teaching the kids this hymn in Chapel on Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week - and we had them substitute the Hebrew word for Wisdom in verse two... so instead of singing "O Wisdom" we sang "Sophia" and you know what? One of the kids remembered that Sophia meant wisdom FROM LAST ADVENT! I tell you - these kids give me great hope and I am privileged to be able to be among them and teaching them!

So Come, Christ the King. Come, crucified, risen and ascended Lord. Come, Child Bethlehem - Into our hearts and minds and souls and lives that we may always know your presence with us. That we may know that in life, in death and in life beyond death, your grace, compassion and love abide with us... and within us.