The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Emmanuel.@Isaiah 7:14
John M. Neale (1818-1866)

Com­bined from var­i­ous an­ti­phons by an un­known au­thor, pos­si­bly in the 12th Cen­tu­ry (Ve­ni, ve­ni Eman­u­el); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale, Med­iae­val Hymns, 1851. Neale’s orig­in­al trans­l­a­tion be­gan, Draw nigh, draw nigh, Em­man­u­el.

Veni Em­man­u­el, from a 15th Cen­tu­ry pro­cess­ion­al of French Fran­cis­can nuns (the set­ting for the fu­ner­al hymn Libera me); ar­ranged by Thom­as Hel­more in the Hym­nal Not­ed, Part II (Lon­don: 1856) (MIDI, NWC, PDF).

The lyrics echo se­ver­al pro­phet­ic themes. The ti­tle comes from the well known Isai­ah 7:14: Be­hold, a vir­gin shall con­ceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Im­man­u­el. Im­man­u­el is He­brew for God with us. The Rod of Jesse refers to Isai­ah 11:1: There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jes­se; Jesse was the fa­ther of Da­vid, se­cond king of Is­ra­el. Day-Spring comes from Za­cha­ri­as, fa­ther of John the Bap­tist, in Luke 1:78: The day­spring from on high has vis­it­ed us. Thou Key of Da­vid is in Isai­ah 22:22: The key of the house of Da­vid will I lay up­on his shoul­der, which in turn re­fers to Isai­ah 9:6: The gov­ern­ment shall be up­on His shoul­der.

Isaiah Writes of Christ’s Birth

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Refrain

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.

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O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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