The Benedictus (also Song of Zechariah or Canticle of Zachary), given in
Gospel of , is one of the three
canticle
A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christianity, Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy.
Ca ...
s in the first two chapters of this Gospel, the other two being the "
Magnificat
The Magnificat (Latin for "y soul
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
magnifies he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...
" and the "
Nunc dimittis
The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate t ...
". The Benedictus was the song of thanksgiving uttered by
Zechariah on the occasion of the
circumcision
Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...
of his son,
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
.
[Ward, Bernard. "The Benedictus (Canticle of Zachary)." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 11 Jan. 2014]
/ref>
The canticle received its name from its first words in Latin ("''Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel''", “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel”).
Structure
The whole canticle naturally falls into two parts. The first (verses 68–75) is a song of thanksgiving for the realization of the Messianic hopes of the Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish nation; but to such realization is given a characteristically Christian tone. As of old, in the family of David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, there was power to defend the nation against their enemies, now again that of which they had been so long deprived, and for which they had been yearning, was to be restored to them, but in a higher and spiritual sense. The horn is a sign of power, and the "horn of salvation" signified the power of delivering or "a mighty deliverance". While the Jews had impatiently borne the yoke of the Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, they had continually sighed for the time when the House of David was to be their deliverer. The deliverance was now at hand, and was pointed to by Zechariah as the fulfilment of God's oath to Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
; but the fulfilment is described as a deliverance not for the sake of worldly power, but that "we may serve him without fear, in holiness and justice all our days".[
The second part of the canticle is an address by Zechariah to his own son, who was to take so important a part in the scheme of the Redemption; for he was to be a prophet, and to preach the remission of sins before the coming of the Redeemer from on high. The prophecy that he was to "go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways" (v. 76) was of course an allusion to the well-known words of which John himself afterwards applied to his own mission (), and which all three ]Synoptic Gospels
The gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark, and Gospel of Luke, Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical ...
adopt ( Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:2; ).[
]
Use in worship
The Pulpit Commentary
The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible created during the nineteenth century under the direction of Rev. Joseph S. Exell and Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones. It consists of 23 volumes with 22,000 pages and 95,000 entrie ...
refers to a belief that the Benedictus was "first introduced into the public worship of the Church about the middle of the sixth century by St. Caesarius of Arles".
In the Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Church, the Benedictus is part of Lauds
Lauds is a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours.
Name
The name is derived from the three last psalms of the psalter (148, ...
, probably because of the song of thanksgiving for the coming of the Redeemer in the first part of the canticle. It is believed to have been first introduced by Benedict of Nursia
Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Orient ...
. According to Durandus, the allusion to Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
's coming under the figure of the rising sun had also some influence on its adoption. It also features in various other liturgical offices, notably at a funeral, at the moment of interment, when words of thanksgiving for the Redemption are specially in place as an expression of Christian hope.
It is one of the canticles in the Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
service of Morning Prayer (or Matins) according to the ''Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'', where it is sung or said after the second (New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
) lesson, unless Psalm 100
Psalm 100 is the 100th psalm in the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. In English, it is translated as "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands" in the King James Version (KJV), and as "O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands" in the Book ...
("Jubilate Deo") is used instead. It may also be used as a canticle in the Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
service of Matins
Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning.
The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by ...
.
Texts
Greek
The Greek version of the canticle appears in the Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
1:68-79:
:Εὐλογητὸς κύριος ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ,
:ὁτι ἐπεσκέψατο καὶ ἐποίησεν λύτρωσιν τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ,
:καὶ ἠγειρεν κέρας σωτηρίας ἡμῖν
:ἐν οἴκῳ Δαυὶδ παιδὸς αὐτοῦ,
:καθὼς ἐλάλησεν διὰ στόματος τῶν ἀγίων ἀπ' αἰῶνος προφητῶν αὐτοῦ,
:σωτηρίαν ἐξ ἐχθρῶν ἡμῶν καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς πάντων τῶν μισούντων ἡμᾶς·
:ποιῆσαι ἔλεος μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν
:καὶ μνησθῆναι διαθήκης ἀγίας αὐτοῦ,
:ὅρκον ὃν ὤμοσεν πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατέρα ἡμῶν,
:τοῦ δοῦναι ἡμῖν
:ἀφόβως ἐκ χειρὸς ἐχθρῶν ῥυσθέντας
:λατρεύειν αὐτῷ ἐν ὁσιότητι
:καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πάσαις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἡμῶν.
:Καὶ σὺ δέ, παιδίον, προφήτης ὑψίστου κληθήσῃ,
:προπορεύσῃ γὰρ ἐνώπιον κυρίου ἑτοιμάσαι ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ,
:τοῦ δοῦναι γνῶσιν σωτηρίας τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ
:ἐν ἀφέσει ἀμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν,
:διὰ σπλάγχνα ἐλέους θεοῦ ἡμῶν,
:ἐν οἷς ἐπισκέψεται ἡμᾶς ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὑψους,
:ἐπιφᾶναι τοῖς ἐν σκότει καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου καθημένοις,
:τοῦ κατευθῦναι τοὺς πόδας ἡμῶν εἰς ὁδὸν εἰρήνης.
Latin
English
International Commission on English in the Liturgy
The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) is a commission set up by a number of episcopal conferences of English-speaking countries for the purpose of providing English translations of the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, th ...
:Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
:he has come to his people and set them free.
:He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
:born of the house of his servant David.
:Through his holy prophets he promised of old
:that he would save us from our enemies,
:from the hands of all who hate us.
:He promised to show mercy to our fathers
:and to remember his holy covenant.
:This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
:to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
:free to worship him without fear,
:holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
:You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
:for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
:to give his people knowledge of salvation
:by the forgiveness of their sins.
:In the tender compassion of our God
:the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
:to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
:and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
''
The United Methodist Hymnal
''The United Methodist Hymnal'' is the hymnal used by The United Methodist Church. It was first published in 1989 as the first hymnal for The United Methodist Church after the 1968 merger of The Methodist Church with The Evangelical United Brethre ...
''
:Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
::who has come to set the chosen people free.
:The Lord has raised up for us
::a mighty Savior from the house of David.
:Through the holy prophets, God promised of old
::to save us from our enemies,
::from the hands of all who hate us;
:to show mercy to our forebears
::and to remember the holy covenant.
:This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham
:to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
::free to worship without fear,
::holy and righteous in the Lord's sight,
::all the days of our life. ''R''
:and you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
::for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,
:to give God's people knowledge of salvation
::by the forgiveness of their sins.
:In the tender compassion of our God
::the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
:to shine on those who dwell in the darkness and the shadow of death,
::and to guide our feet into the way of peace. ''R''
New American Bible
:Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
::for he has visited and brought redemption to his people.
:He has raised up a horn for our salvation
::within the house of David his servant,
:even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:
::salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
:to show mercy to our fathers
::and to be mindful of his holy covenant
:and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father,
:and to grant us that, rescued from the hand of enemies,
:without fear we might worship him in holiness and righteousness
::before him all our days.
:And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
::for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
:to give his people knowledge of salvation
::through the forgiveness of their sins,
:because of the tender mercy of our God
::by which the daybreak from on high will visit us
:to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow,
::to guide our feet into the path of peace.
Douay–Rheims
From the Douay–Rheims Bible
The Douay–Rheims Bible (, ), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by member ...
(Challoner Revision):
''Book of Common Prayer''
From the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'':The 1662 Book of Common Prayer
/ref>
See also
* Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
4Q521
References
External links
List of available settings
at Choral Public Domain Library
The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) is a sheet music archive which focuses on choral and vocal music in the public domain or otherwise freely available for printing and performing (such as via permission from the copyright holder).
It is a ...
.
Order for Morning Prayer
in the ''Book of Common Prayer''
Pope John Paul II, "Reflection on Canticle of Zechariah", General Audience, October 1, 2003
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedictus (Song Of Zechariah)
Canticles
Gospel of Luke
Vulgate Latin words and phrases
New Testament Latin words and phrases