【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.”
 
 Music: 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, score).
 
 The lyrics echo a num­ber of 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.”】
 
 
 
 Lyrics：
 
 
 O come, O come, Emmanuel
 And ransom captive Israel
 That mourns in lonely exile here
 Until the Son of God appear
 Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
 Shall come to thee, O Israel. 
 
 O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
 Thine own from Satan's tyranny
 From depths of Hell Thy people save
 And give them victory o'er the grave
 Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
 Shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
 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.
 Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
 Shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
 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.
 Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
 Shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
 O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
 Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
 In ancient times did'st give the Law,
 In cloud, and majesty and awe.
 Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
 Shall come to thee, O Israel.