Scripture Verse

Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Matthew 25:6

Introduction

portrait
Johan O. Wallin (1779–1839)

Words: 15th Cen­tu­ry Da­nish hymn, au­thor un­known (Fryd dig, du Kristi Brud). Ap­peared in a hym­nal by A. R. Gry­den­rup in 1632. Trans­lat­ed from Da­nish to Swed­ish by Jo­han O. Wall­in, 1819, and from Swed­ish to Eng­lish by Vic­tor O. Pe­ter­sen, 1899.

Music: Auf mein­en lieb­en Gott Ge­rman tune. Ap­peared in Schöne kurz­weil­ige teutsche Lied­er, by Ja­cob Reg­nart, 1574 (🔊 pdf nwc). Bar­tho­lo­mä­us Ge­si­us used this as a sac­red me­lo­dy in 1605.

Alternate Tune:

  • Wo soll ich flie­hen hin Der bußfertige Sün­der (Nur­em­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1679) (🔊 pdf nwc)

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

Lyrics

O Bride of Christ, re­joice!
Exultant raise thy voice
To hail the day of glo­ry,
Foretold in sac­red story.

Refrain

Hosanna, praise and glo­ry,
Our king, we bow be­fore Thee.

Let shouts of glad­ness rise
Triumphant to the skies.
Here comes the King most glo­ri­ous
To reign o’er all vic­to­ri­ous

Refrain

He wears no king­ly crown
Yet as a king He’s known;
Though not ar­rayed in splen­dor,
He still makes death sur­ren­der.

Refrain

The weak and ti­mid find
How meek He is and kind;
To them He gives a trea­sure
Of bliss be­yond all mea­sure.

Refrain

Thy heart now op­en wide,
Bid Christ with thee abide;
He gra­cious­ly will hear thee,
And be for­ev­er near thee.

Refrain

Then go thy Lord to meet;
Strew palm leaves at His feet;
Thy gar­ments spread before Him
And hon­or and adore Him.

Refrain

E’en babes with one ac­cord
With thee shall praise the Lord,
And ev­ery gen­tile na­tion
Respond with ex­ul­ta­tion.

Refrain