Scripture Verse

Sing unto God, sing praises to His name. Psalm 68:4

Introduction

portrait
John M. Neale (1818–1866)
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Words: Un­known au­thor, 11th Cen­tu­ry (Al­le­lu­ia, dul­ce car­men). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale, 1851, alt.

Music: Tan­tum Er­go Sam­uel Webbe, Mo­tetts or An­ti­phons 1792 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Webbe (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Alleluia, song of glad­ness,
Voice of joy that can­not die;
Alleluia is the an­them
Ever dear to choirs on high;
In the house of God ab­id­ing
Thus they sing eter­nal­ly.

Alleluia thou re­sound­est,
True Je­ru­sa­lem and free;
Alleluia, joy­ful mo­ther,
All thy child­ren sing with thee;
But by Ba­by­lon’s sad wa­ters
Mourning ex­iles now are we.

Alleluia we de­serve not
Here to chant for­ev­er­more;
Alleluia our trans­gress­ions
Make us for a while give o’er;
For the ho­ly time is com­ing
Bidding us our sins de­plore.

Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee,
Grant us, bless­èd Tri­ni­ty,
At the last to keep Thine East­er
In our home be­yond the sky;
There to Thee for­ev­er sing­ing
Alleluia joy­ful­ly.

illustration
Resurrection
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)