Intende qui regis Israel

Veni redemptor gentium 

translated as:
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
Come, thou Redeemer of the earth
Savior of the nations, come

with
NUN KOMM, DER HEIDEN HEILAND

I. Introduction

This is one of fourteen hymns deemed to be confidently or reasonably credited to Ambrose of Milan (339/40–397). Ambrose is generally seen as a landmark hymn writer for the way he popularized the poetic structure of quatrains in eight stanzas, eight syllables per line (essentially Long Meter), which is still a staple in Christian hymnody. This is a hymn for Advent. Ambrose lived during a time in which December 25 was being codified in western European churches as the feast of Nativity, including preparatory observations known as Advent, although the four-week version of Advent was not standardized until the leadership of Pope Gregory I (590–604). Jacques Fontaine believed Ambrose had a hand in bringing that tradition to Milan:

C'est probablement Ambroise qui introduisit à Milan la fête du 25 décembre. Il a fit adopter par son Église dans le cadre des divers emprunts qu'il fit à la liturgie de Rome.

It was probably Ambrose who introduced the feast of December 25 to Milan. He had it adopted by his church as part of the various borrowings he made from the liturgy of Rome.[1]

This hymn is confidently assigned to Ambrose on the basis of the sixth stanza being quoted and credited to him in a sermon by Augustine:

Item quia mortem metuunt homines; quos necesse est praecipitari omnes huius torrentis impulsu: Christus autem mortem, quam sponte susceperat, timere non poterat; ideo dictum est: Exsultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam. Descendit enim et cucurrit, ascendit et sedit. Nostis, quia sic confiteri soletis: Postquam resurrexit, ascendit in coelum, sedit ad dexteram Patris. Hunc nostri gigantis excursum breuissime et pulcherrime cecinit beatiis Ambrosius in hymno, quem paulo ante cantastis; loquens enim de Christo Domino sic ait:

Egressus eius a Patre,
regressus eius ad Patrem,
excursus usque ad inferos,
recursus ad sedem Dei.

Again, human beings dread death; because all are bound to be swept away by the tremendous force of this torrent. Christ, though, could not be afraid of the death he had spontaneously taken on. That’s why it said, “He exulted as a giant to run the course.” He came down, you see, and ran; he ascended, and took his seat. You know that, because you are in the habit of confessing it in the creed: “After he had risen, he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father.” This course run by our giant was succinctly and beautifully turned into song by the blessed Ambrose, in the hymn you sang a few moments ago:

From the Father he came forth,
To the Father he returned;
His outward course to the realms of death,
His homeward course to the throne of God.[2]

Additionally, the second stanza was quoted and credited to him by Pope Celestine I (c. 376–432, serving 422–432) at a council in Rome in 430:

Recorder beatae memoriae Ambrosium in die natalis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, omnem fecisse populum una voce Deo canere: Veni, Redemptor gentium, ostende partum Virginis, miretur omne saeculum, talis decet partus Deum. Nunquid talis partus decet hominem?

If I may call to mind the blessed memory of Ambrose, who on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ made all the people sing to God with one voice: Veni Redemptor gentium [etc.]. Is such a birth fitting for man?[3]

The full text of the Latin is given here for reference:

The oldest surviving copies of the hymn begin with the stanza “Intende qui regis Israel,” but most manuscripts starting in the ninth century and afterward begin “Veni redemptor gentium.” The authenticity of the first stanza is sometimes called into question. W.A. Shoults, for example,[5] and others see it as a simple reduction of the Vulgate Latin translation of Psalm 79:2–3 [Greek numbering]:

Qui regis Israel, intende; qui deducis velut ovem Joseph. Qui sedes super cherubim, manifestare coram Ephraim, Benjamin, et Manasse. Excita potentiam tuam, et veni, ut salvos facias nos.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us! (80:1–2, ESV).

Similarly, the first stanza, if it is to be regarded as part of the poetry rather than an abbreviated heading from the psalm, contains metrical irregularities unlike Ambrose’s general structure in long meter. Fontaine rejects the notion of these lines being appended by a later author and assigns them to Ambrose:

These undeniable difficulties do not seem, however, sufficient for us to conclude that it is inauthentic, and to amputate from the first stanza a piece so Ambrosian in so many respects. The shared testimony of the oldest manuscript tradition alone invites us to conjecture that at least this first stanza was composed in Milan: if it is omitted in two-thirds of the witnesses, it must be noted that it is not omitted by any of the Milanese, nor by the oldest witness. Pope Celestine's quotation of the second stanza does not necessarily imply his ignorance of the first: that would be a dangerous argument a silentio. The polemical context of the papal letter, directed against the Nestorians who separated the two natures of Christ and privileged the divine nature, is sufficient to explain the recourse to the second stanza, which is eminently Christological, and not to the first, in which the mystery of the person of Christ hardly appears, and for good reason, through a verse in which,  formally, only Yahweh is involved. As for metrical and prosodic irregularities, they are not isolated in our corpus; they accumulate with each metrical transcription of biblical verses, especially in stanza 5 of hymn 6 [“Amore Christi nobilis”], whose Ambrosian authenticity is very likely. . . .

It is precisely in the composition of the piece considered in its entirety that the most objective clues of authenticity must be sought. Each of the two parts begins with the versification of a verse of a psalm (st. 1 and st. 5). What is more, the role of this clear and careful stanza at the beginning of the piece, where the Jewish theme of the expectation of theophany directly prepares the Christian theme of Advent developed by stanza 2. . . . This lyrical and doctrinal prayer on the birth of the Son takes place according to a very balanced plan, in a four-part diptych of two stanzas, typical of the "four-quarter" structure and the "proposition-response" rule which have appeared to us as major indications of ambrosianity.[6]

A.S. Walpole likewise believed “The stanza is an integral part of the hymn . . . He prays that Christ may come as the shepherd of Israel, in the next stanza that He may come as Redeemer of the Gentiles. The two ideas are often combined in the N.T. and even in O.T.”[7]

II. Manuscripts

Fontaine (1992) identified the earliest surviving manuscript as Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Reg. lat. 11, fol. 233r, from the second half of the eighth century. In this example, the hymn begins “Intende, qui regis Israel,” and all eight stanzas are present. The scribe, rather than presenting the poetry line by line, was working toward conservation of space, using abbreviations and filling the page without breaks.

Fontaine lists six other manuscripts beginning “Intende, qui regis Israel” through the eleventh century, most of which he describes as being Milanese in origin.

Among the earliest manuscripts beginning “Veni redemptor gentium” and containing only seven stanzas is Universitätsbibliothek Düsseldorf, MS B-3, fol. 269r, from the second or third decade of the ninth century (ca. 810–829). The hymn at the bottom of the page is “Pange lingua gloriosi proelium certaminis,” a hymn by Venantuis Fortunatus ca. 570, known in English as “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle.”

Melodic examples are less well documented. One example from the twelfth century can be found in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Paris, Latin 12044, fol. 7v, beginning “Veni redemptor gentium,” where only the first three words and a melodic incipit are given in what appears to be a liturgical sequence, highly abbreviated because of its apparent familiarity to its intended users. This example begins with a descending scale followed by a small leap up a third on the word “gentium.” This codex is described as an Antiphoner from the Monastery of St. Maur-des-Fossés.

Another French manuscript ca. 1300 shows what can only be assumed to be the full version of this same melody or melodic tradition. This likewise is held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Paris, Latin 15181, fol. 157r. The codex is a breviary made for the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The text begins “Veni redemptor gentium” and includes seven stanzas.

A different melodic tradition can be seen in a later example from Germany, this one held by Domstiftsarchiv und Domstiftsbibliothek Naumburg, Chorbuch I, fols. 179r–179v, dated 1500/1504, described as a Gradual, probably from Leipzig. This version of the melody likely served as a model for the adaptation into German by Martin Luther (more on this below). The text here includes seven stanzas plus a doxology. The preceding hymn, written in the Ambrosian style but not known before the ninth century, is “Conditor alme siderum,” known widely in English as “Creator of the stars of night.”

Lastly, English worshipers have had a different melodic tradition, as can be seen in Hymnorum cum notis opusculum usui insignis ecclesie sarum subseruies (London: J. Kyngston & H. Sutton, 1555), fols. 4r-5v, made for use in the Sarum (Salisbury) Cathedral. This English tune is characterized by a leaping fifth in “redemptor.” There are seven stanzas and a doxology represented here. This melody would later be referenced by Thomas Helmore and J.M. Neale in their translation and adaptation (more on this below).

III. Textual Assessment

Fontaine has described this hymn in terms of its theological context, given the doctrinal pillars being championed at the time:

Two major aspects of the festival caught Ambrose's attention here. They appear both in the doctrinal content and the poetic imagery of this hymn: the fullness of Christ’s two natures and his virginal conception. In the expression of these two themes, Ambrose’s personal preferences for a certain image of Christ are expressed. This is characterized by an affirmation of orthodox Christology, and Nicene Christology, against pagans and heretics, and by an exaltation of Mary as virgin and mother. In this case, Christmas is the fulfillment of the mystery of the Incarnation, and for Ambrose, Christmas is an opportunity to emphasize the two natures, divine and human, of Christ, against the opposing heresies that unbalanced the Nicene formula by privileging one of these two natures to the detriment of the other. But here, against Arianism, the hymn insists only on the divine nature of Jesus, and shows in him the Son equal to the Father in his eternity. While the beginning of the poem associates Christian Advent with Jewish messianic expectation, the end celebrates the light of the angelic epiphany to the shepherds: it is a poetic and theological embroidery on the margins of the Gospel account of Christmas Eve, and which sings of Christ as a “new light”—a metaphor derived from the Christian reading of an image from the Psalms.[8]

The mention of Ephraim in the first stanza, reduced from the three names given in Psalm 80:2 (Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh) is consistent with the practice of using that name as a representation of the entire northern kingdom of Israel (a metonym), as in Hosea 7:1 and elsewhere.

The final stanza is an echo of John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (ESV).

The Latin poetry is not consistently iambic, nor does it rhyme, and some lines extend to nine syllables.

IV. Translation & Adaptation by Luther

When Martin Luther was in the early stages of assembling German-language songs for vernacular worship (as opposed to Latin), he turned to the Latin repertory for source material. One of five Latin hymns he adapted in 1523–1524 was “Veni redemptor gentium,” translated as “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.” He probably created his version for Advent 1523. Rather than create a German text suitable for singing to the old Latin melody, he chose to adapt the melody to the cadences of his German text. He explained this idea in Wider die himmlischen Propheten (1525):

I would gladly have a German mass today. I am also occupied with it. But I would very much like it to have a true German character. For to translate the Latin text and retain the Latin tone or notes has my sanction, though it does not sound polished or well done. Both text and [musical] notes, accent and melody, and manner of rendering ought to grow out of the true mother tongue and its inflection, otherwise all of it becomes an imitation, in the manner of apes.[9]

Robin Leaver described the results of Luther’s adaptation of “Veni redemptor gentium”:

Rather than follow the Latin notes, Luther accepts the basic contour of each melodic line but re-creates them in accordance with the stress patterns of his vernacular text. With a stroke of genius he also makes the final line of the melody exactly the same as the first. . . .

Since the basic contours of the [Latin] melodies were in people’s ears, he thought it would be more effective in getting them to sing (and remember these hymns if the melodies were simplified and modified in accordance with the rhythms and stresses of the German texts. Futhermore, in the case of Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, having the last line of the melody be the same as the first made his German version both eminently singable and memorable. . . .

For Luther vernacular worship and vernacular hymnody were still works in progress, but his aim was more radical than simply the provision of expurgated German equivalents of Latin sources.[10]

To this, Paul Westermeyer adds:

More profoundly, the tune is simultaneously propelled forward yet turns back on itself in the same way the text’s waiting does and in the same way the centerpiece if the hymn at our stanza 5 does—“From God’s heart the Savior speeds, back to God his pathway leads.”[11]

For the Latin melody Luther would have known, see Fig. 5 above.

Textually, Luther’s song is considered to be a close approximation of the Latin, beginning with the second stanza and stretching seven stanzas, plus a doxology, like the manuscript at Fig. 5. Luther’s text reduces the number of syllables per line from eight to seven, resulting in 7.7.7.7 iambic, mostly aabb, but the rhyme scheme is not consistently employed.

“Nun komm der Heiden Heiland” was first published in Enchiridion oder eyn Handbüchlein (Erfurt: Loersfelt, 1524). In this instance, the melody was printed in alto clef in A minor.

In Luther’s final hymnal, Geystliche Lieder (Leipzig: V. Babst, 1545), we see some adjustments to the melody, such as elongating the first note, and replacing a note at the end of the second phrase with a rest. This version is written in tenor clef, set in G minor.

Fig. 8. Geystliche Lieder (Leipzig: V. Babst, 1545).

One harmonization in common use is by Seth Calvisius (1556–1615), from his collection Harmonia Cantionum Ecclesiasticarum (Leipzig: Jacobi Apels, 1597). At the time, he was a music professor at the University of Leipzig and cantor of the St. Thomas church. His harmonization is homophonic, in four parts, melody in the cantus (soprano) part. He also prepared a harmonization of the chant tune for “Veni redemptor gentium.”

Fig. 9. Harmonia Cantionum Ecclesiasticarum (Leipzig: Jacobi Apels, 1597).

Another harmonization still in common use is by Melchior Vulpius (1570–1615), from Ein schön geistlich Gesangbuch Darinnen Kirchen Gesänge Und geistliche Lieder (Erfurt: Jena, 1609).

See also the harmonization by J.S. Bach from Cantata BWV 36, mvt. 8 (1731).

V. Translation by Neale

The most commonly reprinted translation directly from the Latin is “Come, thou Redeemer of the earth” by J.M. Neale (1818–1866), first printed in The Hymnal Noted, Part 1 (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1851), starting with the second Latin stanza (“Veni redemptor gentium”), and including the remaining six stanzas, plus a doxology, set to the Sarum/Salisbury chant as in Figure 6 above.

See also Neale’s extensive notes in A Short Commentary on the Hymnal Noted (1852), no. 12.

Neale’s text is most often set to PUER NOBIS NASCITUR, which dates to the 14th century, the earliest source being the Moosberg Gradual, Universitätsbibliothek, München, 2° 156, dated 1355–60.

VI. Translations from German

Modern presentations of Ambrose’s text in American hymnals are generally composite translations from Luther’s German. The starting point for this tradition is an anonymous translation, “Savior of the nations, come,” from A Collection of Hymns with Several Translations from the Hymn-Book of the Moravian Brethren, Part II (London: James Hutton, 1746), no. CCCXL, where it was labeled “An ancient Lutheran hymn.” This translation includes all eight stanzas (seven from Ambrose, plus a doxology). This English version is 7.7.7.7 trochaic.

In the nineteenth century, an influential translation was made by William Morton Reynolds (1812–1876) for Hymns, Original and Selected, for Public and Private Worship in the Evangelical Lutheran Church (1850). This translation begins “Come, thou Savior of our race” and contains only seven stanzas, omitting Luther’s fourth stanza (Ambrose’s original fifth). Reynolds was credited in the index and he served on the hymnal committee. His lines at 4.1–2 closely resemble the Moravian version, but this could be coincidental.

Another influential translation appeared in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book (1889 | 1893 printing shown at Fig. 14), “Saviour of the heathen, come.” In the index, this was labeled as a composite work. Two lines (3.1–2) are verbatim from J.C. Jacobi’s Psalmodia Germanica (1722), and two lines are nearly verbatim from Reynolds (5.1–2). Other antecedents are unclear.

The composite text in The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) draws mainly from Reynolds and ELHB, plus the Moravian 1.1 and 5.1–2. Other hymnals have used this composite as a basis.

Other versions in circulation incorporate lines by Martin L. Seltz from the Worship Supplement (St. Louis: Concordia, 1969); from the translation by F. Samuel Janzow, “All the nations’ Savior, come,” in The Hymns of Martin Luther, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 1978); or from the revised composite in the Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1978), which includes lines from Gracia Grindal (sts. 1–2, 5–7).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
24 April 2025

Footnotes:

1. Jacques Fontaine, Ambroise de Milan Hymnes (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1992), p. 266. Computer translation.

2. Sermon 372, “On the Lord’s nativity,” Sermons, The Works of Saint Augustine, series III, vol. 10, translated by Edmund Hill (NY: New City Press, 1995), p. 318.

3. See J.P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, ser. 1, vol. 53 (Paris, 1857), col. 289: Archive.org.

4. Fontaine, 273–275.

5. W.A. Shoults, “Veni Redemptor gentium,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 1211.

6. Fontaine, 267–268. Computer translation.

7. A.S. Walpole, “Hymn 6,” Early Latin Hymns (Cambridge: University Press, 1922), p. 52: Archive.org

8. Fontaine, 266. Computer translation.

9. Martin Luther, “Against the heavenly prophets in the matter of images and sacraments, 1525,” translated by Bernhard Erling, Church and Ministry II, vol. 40 of Luther’s Works (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1958), p. 141.

10. Robin A. Leaver, The Whole Church Sings: Congregational Singing in Luther’s Wittenberg (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2017), pp. 86–88; see also Luther’s Liturgical Music (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), p. 200.

11. Paul Westermeyer, “Savior of the nations, come,” Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 2010), p. 35.

Related Resources:

Manuscripts:

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Reg. lat. 11:
https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Reg.lat.11
https://www.librideipatriarchi.it/en/books/psalterium-duplex-1176/

Universitätsbibliothek Düsseldorf, MS B-3:
https://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ms/content/pageview/4506601

Domstiftsarchiv und Domstiftsbibliothek Naumburg, Chorbuch I
https://archive.thulb.uni-jena.de/korax/rsc/viewer/Korax_derivate_00002026/Chorbuch_0339.tif

Cantus Index:
https://cantusindex.org/id/008408a

Handschriften Portal:
https://handschriftenportal.de/

Ambrose / Latin:

J.M. Neale, A Short Commentary on the Hymnal Noted (London: Joseph Masters, 1852), no. 12: Archive.org

H.A. Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, vol. 1 (Leipzig: J.T. Loeschke, 1855), pp. 12–14: HathiTrust

W.A. Shoults & John Julian, “Veni Redemptor gentium,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London: J. Murray, 1892), pp. 1211–1212: HathiTrust

Clemens Blume & Guido M. Dreves, Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi, vol. 50 (Leipzig: O.R. Reisland, 1907), pp. 10–21: HathiTrust

A.S. Walpole, “Hymn 6,” Early Latin Hymns (Cambridge: University Press, 1922), pp. 50–57: Archive.org

“Come, thou Redeemer of the earth,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/come_thou_redeemer_of_the_earth_and_man

Luther / German:

Marilyn Kay Stulken, “Savior of the nations, come,” Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), pp. 127–128.

Robin A. Leaver, “Savior of the nations, come!” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A, ed. Raymond Glover (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 97–100.

Catherine Salika, “Savior of the nations, come,” Hymnal Companion to Worship—Third Edition (Chicago: GIA, 1998), p. 262.

Robin A. Leaver, Luther’s Liturgical Music (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2007), p. 200.

Paul Westermeyer, “Savior of the nations, come,” Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 2010), pp. 34–36.

Carl P. Daw Jr. “Savior of the nations, come,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016).

Robin A. Leaver, The Whole Church Sings: Congregational Singing in Luther’s Wittenberg (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2017), pp. 86–88.

Carl F. Schalk & Joseph Herl, “Savior of the nations, come,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 5–9.

“Savior of the nations, come,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/savior_of_the_nations_come_virgins_son