Nine Lessons and Carols, Part V: The Fourth Reading

The peace that Christ will bring is foreshown.

ISAIAH 11:1-9 (ESV):

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.

7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

THANKS BE TO GOD.

~~~~~


Otto Goldschmidt, "A Tender Shoot"

A tender shoot has started up
From a root of grace,
As ancient seers imparted
From Jesse’s holy race;
It blooms without a blight,
Blooms in the cold bleak winter,
Turning our darkness into light.

This shoot, Isaiah taught us,
From Jesse’s root should spring;
The Virgin Mary brought us
The branch of which we sing:
Our God of endless might
Gave her this child to save us,
Thus turning darkness into light.

~~~~~


Jan Sandström, Det är en ros utsprungen

Det är en ros utsprungen
av Jesse rot och stam.
Av fädren ren besjungen
den står i tiden fram,
En blomma skär och blid,
Mitt i den kalla vinter
i midnatts mörka tid.

~~~~~


Michael Praetorius, "Lo, How a Rose"

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming
from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming,
as men of old have sung.
It came a floweret bright
amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it,
the rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright,
she bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.