Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

1 The strife is o'er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun.
Alleluia!

2 The powers of death have done their worst,
But Christ their legions hath dispersed:
Let shouts of holy joy outburst.
Alleluia!

3 The three sad days have quickly sped,
He rises glorious from the dead:
All glory to our risen Head!
Alleluia!

4 He closed the yawning gates of hell,
The bars from heaven's high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise His triumphs tell.
Alleluia!

5 Lord, by the stripes which wounded thee,
From death's dread sting Thy servants free,
That we may live and sing to Thee,
Alleluia!

Amen.

The Hymnal: Published by the authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1895

Scripture References:
st. 1 = 1 Cor. 15:20
st. 2 = 2 Tim. 1:10, Col. 2:15
st. 3 = Luke 24:26
st. 4 = Rev. 1:18
st. 5 = 1 Cor. 15:55

This Easter hymn pictures Christ's death as the final battle with the powers of evil, but Christ is the victor; his resurrection marks the decisive outcome of that battle. Each stanza begins with some aspect of Christ's resurrection and moves to our response of praise. A poetic commentary on and summary of Paul's resurrection discourse in 1 Corinthians 15, the entire text is framed with "alleluias" (like some of the psalms).

Although John M. Neale (PHH 342) believed this text came from the twelfth century, no medieval manuscript containing the text has been found. Based on a Latin hymn ("Finita iam sunt proelia"), “The Strife Is O'er” first appeared in the Jesuit collection Symphonia Sirenum Selectarum in 1695.

Francis Pott (b. Southwark, Surrey, England, 1832; d. Speldhurst, Kent, England, 1909) translated the text around 1859. The text was published in five stanzas in two 1861 hymnals: Pott's Hymns Fitted to the Order of Common Prayer and Hymns Ancient and Modern (with a few changes). Educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, England, Pott was ordained in the Church of England in 1856. However, his severe hearing loss caused his retirement from a pastorate at Norhill in Ely (1866-1891). A member of the committee that produced Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), Pott also published original hymns, translations from Latin, and Syriac hymns in Hymns Fitted to the Order of Common Prayer (1861). During his retirement he devoted himself to improvements in worship and singing, and he edited The Free Rhythm Psalter (1898).

Liturgical Use:
Easter; funerals.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook