Outside the ho­ly ci­ty
Unnumbered foot­steps throng,
And crowd­ed mart and streets of trade
Fling back a swell­ing song.
The voic­es echo near­er,
In flam­ing hope they sing:
Throw down your branch­es at His feet!
Hosanna to the King!

Once more be­side a ci­ty
The Son of Da­vid waits,
Once more the child­ren throng to bring
A wel­come at the gates.
Within are hearts sore bur­dened
And feet that go as­tray;
O Christ of God, come near and walk
Our city streets to­day!

The branch­es that we of­fer
Are no un­mean­ing sign;
Take Thou the hands we lift on high
And make them whol­ly Thine.
No songs of shal­low wel­come
Are these we raise to Thee;
O give us faith to face the cross
And set Thy ci­ty free!

A dist­ant mu­sic min­gles
With all our songs to­day,
The cho­rale from a ci­ty fair
Where sin has passed away.
There rides the Christ tri­um­phant
And vic­tor songs ring clear;
O God, give us the strength to build
With Christ that ci­ty here!