Music & HymnsWake, Awake, For Night Is Flying

"While they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with Him to the banquet. And the door was shut." Matthew 25:10

Words: Philipp Nicolai (Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme). The words may have been inspired by a 1523 poem by Nuremberg's Meistersinger Lutheran poet Hans Sachs (1494-1576); they were first published in Nicolai's Freudenspiegel des ewigen Lebens (Joyous Mirror of Eternal Life), 1599. Catherine Winkworth translated the lyrics from German to English in 1858.

Music: "Wachet Auf," Philipp Nicolai; harmony by Johann Sebastian Bach, 1731

Wake, awake, for night is flying;
The watchmen on the heights are crying:
Awake, Jerusalem, at last!
Midnight hears the welcome voices
And at the thrilling cry rejoices;
Come forth, ye virgins, night is past;
The Bridegroom comes, awake;
Your lamps with gladness take;
Alleluia! And for His marriage feast prepare
For ye must go and meet Him there.

Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And all her heart with joy is springing;
She wakes, she rises from her gloom;
For her Lord comes down all glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth victorious.
Her Star is risen, her Light is come.
Ah come, Thou blessèd One, God's own belovèd Son:
Alleluia! We follow till the halls we see
Where Thou hast bid us sup with Thee.

Now let all the heavens adore Thee,
And saints and angels sing before Thee,
With harp and cymbal's clearest tone;
Of one pearl each shining portal,
Where we are with the choir immortal
Of angels round Thy dazzling throne;
Nor eye hath seen, nor ear hath yet attained to hear
What there is ours, but we rejoice and sing to Thee
Our hymn of joy eternally.

Hymns supplied through the gracious generosity of the Cyber Hymnal Website