1 Prepare the way, O Zion!
Ye awful deeps, rise high;
Sink low, ye lofty mountains,
The Lord is drawing nigh;
The righteous King of glory,
Foretold in sacred story.
Refrain:
O blest is he that came
In God the Father's Name!
2 O Zion, he approaches,
Your Lord and King for aye;
Strew palms where he advances,
Spread garments in his way;
God's promise faileth never,
Hosanna sound forever. [Refrain[
3 Fling wide your portals, Zion,
And hail your glorious King;
His tidings of salvation
To every people bring,
Who, waiting still in sadness,
Would sing his praise with gladness. [Refrain]
4 The throne which he ascended
Is fixed in heaven above;
His everlasting kingdom
Is light and joy and love;
Let us his praise be sounding
For grace and peace abounding. [Refrain]
Source: Service Book and Hymnal of the Lutheran Church in America #9
Franzén, Franz Michael, was born at Uleabôrg, Finland, in 1772, and educated at the University of Abo, where he became Librarian and Professor of Literary History. He was subsequently Minister at Kumla, Orebro, Sweden, and then of Santa Clara, in Stockholm. He was consecrated Bishop of Hernosand, in 1841, and died there in 1847. (See Supplement to Longfellow's Poets and Poetry of Europe.) Of his pieces one is in English common use. It begins "Jesum haf i ständigt minne," translated by Mrs. Charles in her Christian Life in Song, 1858, p. 250, as "Jesus in Thy memory keep" (Looking unto Jesus). Usually it begins with stanza ii., "Look to Jesus, till, reviving."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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