Scripture Verse

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass. Zechariah 9:9

Introduction

Words: Chris­to­pher Words­worth, The Ho­ly Year (Lon­don: Riv­ing­tons, 1862), num­ber 4. The First and Se­cond Ad­vents of Christ Com­pared.

Music: Wrex­ham, in the ap­pen­dix to The Ho­ly Year, 1862 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know the com­pos­er, or where to get a good pic­ture of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885)

Lyrics

Daughter of Zi­on, shout with joy,
Thy king and Sav­ior see!
Meek, rid­ing on an ass, a foal,
Behold! He comes to Thee!
In the Lord’s name He comes! Ho­san­nas sing,
Daughter of Zi­on, shout! Be­hold thy king!

The foal was yet un­tamed, and bound;
But the Apos­tles say,
The Lord hath need of him; they loose,
And gar­ments on him lay;
Palms strew the road, on him the Lord doth ride
To Zi­on’s gate, the mo­ther at his side.

So, Lord, the hea­then world, untamed,
Was bound by chains of sin,
But loosed by apos­tol­ic hands
To Zi­on enters in:
Christ rides up­on it: Guide us. Lord, that we
In Thy Je­ru­sa­lem may ev­er be.

Thou, Lord, who once didst meek­ly ride
Upon the foal, art He
Who rid­eth on the hea­vens, the clouds
Are cha­ri­ots to Thee;
Thou on the wings of migh­ty winds dost fly,
The che­ru­bim bear up Thy ma­jes­ty.

I saw Heav’n op­ened: I be­held
One on a white horse ride,
Followed by ar­mies out of Heav’n
In white robes glo­ri­fied;
His eyes like fire, their rays like flam­ing swords,
His name is King of kings, and Lord of lords!

Such at Thy se­cond com­ing Thou
Wilt be, at that great day;
O help us by Thy Spi­rit now
Ill works to cast away,
To walk in love, as child­ren of the light,
And fol­low Thee in vest­ments pure and white.