O What Their Joy and Their Glory Must Be

 

Words: Peter Abelard (1079-1142); tr. John Mason Neale (1818-1866), alt.

Music: O quanta qualia, melody from Antiphoner, 1681; harm. John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876); v5 harm. D. T. Mitchell (b. 1973)

 

O what their joy and their glory must be,

Those endless Sabbaths the blessed ones see;

Crown for the valiant, to weary ones rest:

God shall be all, and in all ever blest.

 

Truly, “Jerusalem” name we that shore,

City of peace that brings joy evermore;

Wish and fulfillment are not severed there,

Nor do things prayed for come short of the prayer.

 

There, where no troubles distraction can bring,

We the sweet anthems of Zion shall sing;

While for thy grace, Lord, their voices of praise

Thy blessed people eternally raise.

 

Now, in the meanwhile, with hearts raised on high,

We for that country must yearn and must sigh,

Seeking Jerusalem, dear native land,

Through our long exile in Babylon’s strand.

 

Low before him with our praises we fall,

Of whom, and in whom, and through whom are all;

Of whom, the Father; and in whom, the Son;

Through whom, the Spirit, with them ever One.