For Advent

The Desire of All Nations Shall Come

Words: Veni, Veni, Emanuel, from D. G. Corner's Gesangbuch, 1625,
Translated by Rev. John Mason Neale

Compare: Draw Nigh, Draw Nigh, Emmanuel (Trans. Unknown)
 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Version 1

See: Notes on Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

Source: John Mason Neale, ed., Medieval Hymns and Sequences, First Edition. London: Joseph Masters, 1851, pp. 119-120.

Note: The lyrics in this edition are different in many respects from the Second and Third Editions of Medieval Hymns, and from the 1851 and 1856 editions of The Hymnal Noted.

1. Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel
And loose Thy captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear;
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Is born for thee, O Israel!

2. O Rod of Jesse’s stem, arise,
And free us from our enemies,
And set us loose from Satan's chains,
And from the pit with all its pains!
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Is born for thee, O Israel!

3. Thou, the true East, draw nigh, draw nigh,
To give us comfort from on high!
And drive away the shades of night,
And pierce the clouds, and bring us light!
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Is born for thee, O Israel!

4. Key of the House of David, come!
Reopen Thou our heavenly home!
Make safe the way that we must go,
And close the path that leads below.
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Is born for thee, O Israel!

5. Ruler and Lord, draw nigh, draw nigh!
Who to Thy flock in Sinai
Didst give, of ancient times, Thy Law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Is born for thee, O Israel!

Draw Nigh, Draw Nigh, Emmanuel
John Mason Neale, ed., Medieval Hymns and Sequences, Second Edition. London: Joseph Masters, 1863, pp. 171-2.

1. Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear;
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Shall be born for thee, O Israel!

2. Draw nigh, O Jesse’s Rod, draw nigh,
To free us from the enemy;
From Hell’s infernal pit to save,
And give us victory o’er the grave.
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Shall be born for thee, O Israel!

3. Draw nigh, Thou Orient, Who shalt cheer
And comfort by Thine Advent here,
And banish far the brooding gloom
Of sinful night and endless doom.
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Shall be born for thee, O Israel!

4. Draw nigh, draw nigh, O David’s Key,
The Heav’nly Gate will ope to Thee;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Shall be born for thee, O Israel!

5. Draw nigh, draw nigh, O Lord of Might,
Who to Thy tribes from Sinai’s height
In ancient time didst give the Law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
  Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
  Shall be born for thee, O Israel!

Second Edition, 1863		Third Edition, 1867

There is this note from the gentle Dr. Neale at the bottom of the second page:

"Corrected from the first Edition for the Hymnal Noted; and thence copied, with alterations, in the Hymns Ancient and Modern, and elsewhere."

Note: The lyrics contained in the Second Edition, 1863, correspond with the Third Edition of 1867,
but not with the First Edition of 1861.

John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore, eds.,
 Veni, Veni Emmanuel, #65 (or 30), p. 131
The Hymnal Noted - Parts I and II. London: Novello, 1851, 1856.

Ed. Note: The words in these two editions are identical, and correspond exactly with the lyrics reproduced from the Second and Third Editions of Medieval Hymns and Sequences.

The Greater Antiphons, Hymnal Noted - Parts I and II (1851), pp. 207-209.

The Greater Antiphons, Hymnal Noted - Parts I and II (1856), pp. 207-209.

  Ed. Note: The words in these editions are identical.

See: The Great Advent Antiphons

Hymns Ancient and Modern (London: Novello, 1867)

Also found in George Radcliffe Woodward, ed., Songs of Syon (London: Schott & Co., Third Edition, 1908), #8, with attribution to Neale, alt. Woodward gives the last two lines of each verse as:

Rejoice, rejoice, Immanuel
Is born for thee, O Israel.

Also found in Arthur Henry Brown, ed., The Altar Hymnal (London: Griffith, Farrar, Okeden & Welsh, 1885), p. 15, who provides the correct chorus:

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
Shall be born for thee, O Israel!

This hymnal provides two tunes: “Veni Emmanuel” (Ancient Plain Song; harmony by W. H. Monk) and “Bayham Abbey” (composed by Arthur H. Brown):

Also found in Rev. Benjamin Webb and Rev. William Cooke, The Hymnary (London: Novello, Ewer and Co., 1872), #103, pp. 83-84, with tunes by W. J. Gauntlett and Charles Gounod:

Note from Neale:

This Advent Hymn is little more than a versification of some of the Christmas antiphons commonly called the O's.

Editor's Notes:

In his introduction to the section that contains this hymn, Neale notes that the origin of this (and the other seven hymns in the section) may "be referred to about the same date; namely, the thirteenth century." In the table of contents, however, he notes that these hymns are "Apparently of the Twelfth Century."

Additional notes can be found under the translation: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. See also Christ by Cynewulf, The O Antiphons, The Prose Antiphons and The Great Advent Antiphons.

See also: O Wisdom, Who O'er Earth Below.