O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Francesca Battistelli's reading keeps this hymn's medieval Latin roots intact in translation, opening with a name rather than a description: "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here." The hymn addresses someone specific, by name, before it explains why.

Each verse adds a different title for the same coming figure — "Thou Rod of Jesse," "Thou Day-Spring" — and pairs it with a specific need: freedom from "Satan's tyranny," light to "disperse the gloomy clouds of night." The titles aren't decorative; each one answers a different kind of darkness.

Matthew's account explains the name itself — "they shall call his name Immanuel," meaning God with us — and Isaiah's earlier promise that people walking in darkness would see a great light gives the third verse its exact image. The repeated refrain, "rejoice, rejoice," never waits for the coming to actually happen within the song; it celebrates the promise as good as done, the same confidence Advent hymns are built to hold.