O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Tube. Duration : 5.73 Mins.

With its haunting minor melody, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is a much-loved Advent hymn. Its lyrics come from the Advent events of the medieval Christian church. Each night, for seven days before Christmas, the church would sing one of the "Great O Antiphons"--anthems sung to a short verse. The word "antiphon" implies that the lines of each anthem were sung alternately by two choirs sitting opposite each other in the chancel. Each antiphon featured a prayer beginning with "O Come" and including an Old Testament reference for the Messiah: The Great O Antiphons "O Sapientia, quae ex ore altissimi..." (O Wisdom from on high...) Isa. 28:29 "O Adonai et dux domus Israel..." (O Lord and leader of the house of Israel...) Ex. 19:16 "O Racix Jesse qui stas in signum populorum..." (O Root of Jesse who stood as a standard of the people) Isa. 11:1, 10 "O Clavis David et sceptrum domus..." (O Key of David and scepter of our home...) Isa. 22:22 "O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae..." (O Dayspring, splendor of eternal light...) Num. 24:17 "O Rex gentium et desideratus..." (O longed-for King of the nations...) Hag. 2:7 "O Emmanuel, rex et legiter noster..." (O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver...) Isa. 7:14 Read backward as an acrostic, the first letters of these antiphons spell 'ero cras,' which translates into a hopeful Advent message: "tomorrow I shall be there." About the twelfth century, five antiphons were put together as verses of a single hymn, and a chorus was added, creating the ...

Tags: Christianity, gospel, O Come, Emmanuel, Messiah, Advent, Dayspring, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Desire of Nations, Wisdom from on High