Alleluia, Song of Gladness
Alleluia, song of gladness
Alleluia, Song of Gladness is a hymn text by Unknown (1200) in 8.8.8.8 meter. Translated by Philip Pusey. Found in elw 318, h82 122, hs98 819, lsb 417. Sung to LAUDES DOMINI.
The hymn celebrates the Easter triumph of Christ with exuberant alleluias, reflecting the Lutheran understanding of resurrection joy and eschatological hope. It embodies the Gospel proclamation of victory over sin and death through Christ's resurrection.
History & Background
This medieval Latin hymn originates from the liturgical tradition of the Western Church, with roots in medieval monastic practice. Philip Pusey provided the English translation in 1860, which became widely used in Anglican and Lutheran hymnody.
Hymnal Appearances
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 318
- The Hymnal 1982 — 122
- Hymnal Supplement 98 — 819
- Lutheran Service Book — 417
- With One Voice — 654
Translation
Bulletin Note
A medieval hymn (ca. 1200) from the tradition of Easter praise. Its cascading alleluias reflect the church's ancient custom of restoring the word 'alleluia' to worship after its Lenten silence, marking resurrection joy.
Preaching Connection
This hymn transforms the Gospel announcement of Christ's resurrection into congregational song, moving hearers from the proclamation of victory to a lived response of grateful alleluia.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: God's covenant fulfillment through Christ and John the Baptist, moving from promise to proclamation to salvation's illumination
In the Church Year
Suggested in the one-year series
- Transfiguration (7×)
Suggested in the three-year series
- Transfiguration (8×)
From LCMS Worship's published hymn suggestions, 2014–2026. The count is how many of those yearly lists suggested this hymn for that day.
Overview
The hymn for the 'farewell to Alleluia'. In the Western Church the word Alleluia is not sung from the beginning of Lent until the Easter Vigil, and this medieval hymn was written for the last service at which it is heard. It calls Alleluia the song of the heavenly Jerusalem, sung without ceasing by the choirs above; it names the Church on earth as exiles by Babylon's waters who cannot always sing it; it explains why, our sins; and it prays to keep Easter at last with the saints. It is a hymn about fasting from a word, and it teaches that Christian joy and Christian repentance belong to the same people.
Central theme: Alleluia as the song of the heavenly home, laid aside in penitence by exiles who pray to sing it forever at the last Easter
Structure
Four stanzas of 87 87 87, the first three beginning their odd lines with 'Alleluia'. St. 1: the song in heaven; st. 2: Jerusalem above and the exiles below; st. 3: the Lenten laying aside; st. 4: prayer to the Trinity for the eternal Easter, the word Alleluia returning only in the final line.
Law & Gospel Shape
Law: 'mourning exiles now are we' (2); 'our transgressions make us for a while forgo' and tears for sin (3). Gospel: the unending joy of the house of God (1), the free Jerusalem who is our mother (2), and the Easter the Trinity will grant (4). 'For a while' keeps the Law from having the last word.
Confessional Connections
Dropping Alleluia in Lent is a church custom, an adiaphoron kept for good order and teaching, not a law that earns anything (AC XV; AC XXVI on fasting; FC X). The hymn uses it rightly, as a sign that teaches repentance: 'our transgressions' are the reason, and 'tears for sin' are the contrition that the Law works (AC XII; SA III III). It does not make sorrow the cause of forgiveness; the hope is 'grant us', a gift asked of the Trinity. St. 2 confesses the Church as one family in two conditions, the free Jerusalem above and the pilgrims below (Ap VII-VIII; the communion of saints). The Babylon image is the Church's exile in a fallen world, not a judgment on any earthly body.
Liturgical Use (Study Notes)
The Transfiguration of Our Lord or the last Sunday before Lent, as the closing hymn at which Alleluia is 'buried'; Shrove Tuesday; pre-Lent (Gesimatide) in older calendars.
Historical Notes
An 11th-century Latin hymn sung in many places on the Saturday before Septuagesima, when Alleluia ceased; some medieval churches held a mock burial of the word. Neale translated it in Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851). LSB keeps 'thou' forms.
About the Tune
LAUDA ANIMA (John Goss, 1869), written for 'Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven'. Other books use DULCE CARMEN or TANTUM ERGO.
Scripture References
Rev 19:1-6 Ps 137:1-4 Gal 4:26 Heb 12:22-23 Heb 13:14 Joel 2:12-13 2 Cor 7:10 Rev 7:9-12 Ps 126:5-6 1 Cor 5:7-8
Stanza by Stanza
Alleluia, the song of gladness and the voice of undying joy, is the anthem the choirs on high always raise. Dwelling in God's house, they sing it for ever.
The hymn begins by saying what the word is. Alleluia, 'praise the Lord', is in the New Testament only in Revelation 19, where the great multitude in heaven cries it four times over the victory of God and the marriage of the Lamb. So it is the native speech of heaven, 'the voice of joy that cannot die', and whenever the Church uses it she borrows from the liturgy above. The stanza stresses permanence: 'ever raised', 'abiding', 'eternally'. The saints at rest never stop. Set at the door of Lent, that is a comfort before the fast begins. The song goes on while we are silent, and it is waiting for us.
- Scripture
- Rev 19:1-6, Ps 84:4, Ps 150, Rev 7:9-12, Ps 23:6
- Imagery & language
- Choirs on high; the house of God; a song that cannot die.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: the unending joy of the redeemed.
- Connection to previous
- Opening: Alleluia defined as heaven's song.
Alleluia, you ring out in the true and free Jerusalem. Alleluia, joyful mother, all your children sing with you; but we are now exiles mourning by Babylon's sad waters.
Two cities are set against each other. The Jerusalem above is 'free' and is 'our mother', Paul's words in Galatians 4:26; her children are all who belong to Christ, and they sing with her. Then the turn, on the word 'but'. The Church on earth takes Psalm 137 on her lips: by the rivers of Babylon the exiles hung up their harps and asked how they could sing the Lord's song in a strange land. The stanza does not say the pilgrims are disowned. They are the same mother's children, away from home. This is the tension every Christian lives in, citizenship in heaven and residence in a world of sin and death, and Lent is the season that says it aloud.
- Scripture
- Gal 4:26, Heb 12:22-23, Ps 137:1-4, Phil 3:20, Heb 13:14, 1 Pet 2:11
- Imagery & language
- Jerusalem the free mother; Babylon's waters; exiles in mourning.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: Jerusalem above is our mother. Law: for now we are exiles.
- Connection to previous
- From heaven's song to the contrast with our present condition.
Alleluia cannot always be our song here below. Our transgressions make us give it up for a while, for the solemn time is coming when we must weep for our sins.
Here is the reason for the custom, and it is stated without softening: 'our transgressions'. The Church does not fast from Alleluia because joy is suspect or because God is displeased with praise, but because sinners need a season to face what their sin is and what it cost. The 'solemn time' is Lent, and its tears are the godly grief that leads to repentance without regret (2 Cor 7:10). Two small words keep this stanza evangelical. 'Cannot always' admits the limit of this life, in which praise and penitence alternate. 'For a while' sets a term to the silence. The Alleluia is laid down in order to be taken up at Easter, as sorrow in the psalm lasts for a night.
- Scripture
- Joel 2:12-13, 2 Cor 7:10, Ps 51:3-4, Eccl 3:4, Ps 30:5, Matt 9:15
- Imagery & language
- A song laid aside; a solemn season approaching; tears.
- Law / Gospel
- Law: our transgressions and the call to repentance.
- Connection to previous
- Explains why the exiles of st. 2 fall silent.
Therefore in our hymns we pray you, blessed Trinity: grant us at the last to keep your Easter with your faithful saints on high, singing Alleluia to you joyfully for ever.
'Therefore': because we are exiles and sinners, we pray. The last stanza looks past the forty days and past the coming Easter Day to the Easter that does not end, kept 'with Thy faithful saints on high'. Paul calls Christ our Passover and tells the Church to keep the feast, and the hymn follows that thought to its completion in the marriage supper of the Lamb. The verb is 'grant'. The eternal Alleluia is asked for as a gift from the Trinity, not offered as the result of a well-kept Lent. And the word itself, withheld through the stanza, comes back as its final line: the hymn ends on the Alleluia it is saying goodbye to, in hope.
- Scripture
- 1 Cor 5:7-8, Rev 19:6-9, Rev 7:9-10, Ps 126:5-6, Luke 22:16, 1 Pet 1:3-4
- Imagery & language
- Keeping Easter in heaven; saints on high; Alleluia regained.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel hope asked as gift: the eternal Easter.
- Connection to previous
- Resolves the Lenten silence of st. 3 by praying for the song's return in glory.
Themes
Joy and praise Resurrection triumph Alleluia acclamation Heavenly gladness