Scripture Verse

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Introduction

portrait
William Gardiner (1770–1853)
British Museum
cc-license

Words: Paul Ger­hardt, 1653 (Wir sing­en dir, Im­ma­nu­el). Trans­la­tor un­known; ap­peared in the Church Hymn Book (New Mar­ket, Vir­gin­ia: So­lo­mon Hen­kel, 1816), num­ber 35.

Music: Ger­ma­ny, Sac­red Me­lo­dies, by Will­iam Gar­di­ner, 1815 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know the trans­la­tor, or where to get his pic­ture (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676)

Lyrics

Immanuel, we sing Thy praise;
Thou Prince of life! Thou spring of grace!
We wor­ship Thee with one accord,
Thou vir­gin’s Son! Thou Lord of lords!

We join with heav’n­ly hosts to be
Employed with those who wor­ship Thee;
Since long it hath been our re­quest,
That Thou shouldst come, O wel­come Guest!

How oft­en, since the world was made,
Have ma­ny for Thy com­ing prayed!
The fa­thers and the pro­phets were
Desirous that Thou shouldst ap­pear,

With ar­dent zeal for Thee did look
That king and shep­herd of Thy flock,
That man who so well pleas­èd Thee
Who wor­shiped Thee with psal­te­ry.

O may the Lord from Zi­on come,
To break our bands, and take us home!
May we re­lief by Him obtain!
That Ja­cob may re­joice again.

Now, Thou art come, as we have prayed,
And in a stall and man­ger laid;
The world by Thee is clothed and fed
Thou hast not where to lay Thy head.

Thy dwell­ings are of mean­est kind;
Yet all the hea­vens, they are Thine:
A hu­man breast af­fords Thee food,
Tho’ an­gels wor­ship Thee, their God.

The seas, they bound at Thy com­mands,
And Thou art decked with swad­dling-bands;
Thou art our God, yet deignst to be
Exposed to want and po­ver­ty.

Thou art the fount of ev­ery bliss,
And yet ex­posed to great dis­tress:
All na­tions’ help art Thou alone,
Thou seek­est help, but find­est none.

We praise Thee, O Thou ev­er blest!
Our prais­es are to Thee ad­dressed;
If an­gels join to praise Thy name,
Sure we are bound to do the same.