Behold, the joyful day is nigh

Representative Text

1 Behold, the joyful day is nigh,
And angels’ voices from on high
Proclaim the news in early morn
That the Good Shepherd now is born.

2 In quiet splendor forth He comes,
The scattered sheep and tender lambs
To gather, and their fold prepare
With all a shepherd’s tender care.

3 The gentle Shepherd we behold
Who, not with silver and with gold,
But by His suffering and His death,
Will save us from eternal wrath.

4 His Church, though small its seed may be,
Shall grow into a mighty tree,
With fruitful branches spreading o’er
The earth till time shall be no more.

5 Arise and shine, thy Light is come,
O humankind, O Christendom;
Thy glory and thy peace is here;
The Saviour of the world draws near.

6 All praise and glory be to Thee
For wisdom, power, and majesty;
And for Thy grace and mercy, Lord,
Forever be Thy name adored.

Amen.

Source: The Hymnal and Order of Service #45

Author: Johan Olaf Wallin

Johan Olaf Wallin was born at Stora Tuna, in 1779, and early displayed his poetical powers. In 1805, and again in 1809, he gained the chief prize for poetry at Upsala. In the latter year he became pastor at Solna; here his ability as a preacher was so striking that he was transferred to Stockholm, in 1815, as "pastor primarius," a title for which we have no exact equivalent. In 1818 he was made Dean of Westeras, and set about the task of editing a revised hymn-book for the whole of Sweden. This task he completed in 1819, and published it as, Den Swenska Psalmboken, af Konungen gillad och stadfästad (The Swedish hymn-book, approved and confirmed by the King). To it he contributed some 150 hymns of his own, besides translations and recasting… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Behold, the joyful day is nigh
Author: Johan Olaf Wallin
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

VOM HIMMEL HOCH

Initially Luther used the folk melody associated with his first stanza as the tune for this hymn. Later he composed this new tune for his text. VOM HIMMEL HOCH was first published in Valentin Schumann's Geistliche Lieder in 1539. Johann S. Bach (PHH 7) used Luther's melody in three places in his wel…

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #437
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)
The Cyber Hymnal #9526
  • PDF (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer Score (NWC)

Instances

Instances (1 - 2 of 2)
TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #437

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #9526

Include 6 pre-1979 instances
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