Here's
another version, sung by a member of "The Schola Cantorum, The Catholic
Parish of St Canice, 28 Roslyn Street, Elizabeth Bay, Kings Cross,
Sydney NSW, Australia":
The text is taken from Psalm (84/)85, vv. 6-7; it's a rather famous section from one of the
used these texts - also beautiful, but far more focused on the Second, rather than the First, Coming:
4 For
behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the proud, and
all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall set
them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root,
nor branch.
2 But
unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health
in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the
herd.
3 And
you shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under the sole
of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments.
5 Behold I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And
he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart
of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with
anathema.
50 Unto the end, a psalm of David,
2 When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bethsabee.
3 Have
mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the
multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
4 Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
5 For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
6 To
thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou
mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged.
7 For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.
8 For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.
9 Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
10 To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.
11 Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
12 Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.
13 Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
14 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.
15 I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.
4 For
what things soever were written, were written for our learning: that
through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope.
5 Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ:
6 That with one mind, and with one mouth, you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honour of God.
8 For
I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.
9 But
that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:
Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will
sing to thy name.
10 And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
11 And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and magnify him, all ye people.
12 And
again Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall
rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope.
13 Now
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing; that you
may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.
25 And
there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and
upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the
roaring of the sea and of the waves;
26 Men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved;
27 And then they shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with great power and majesty.
28 But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.
29 And he spoke to them in a similitude. See the fig tree, and all the trees:
30 When they now shoot forth their fruit, you know that summer is nigh;
31 So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand.
32 Amen, I say to you, this generation shall not pass away, till all things be fulfilled.
33 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
34 And
take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day
come upon you suddenly.
35 For as a snare shall it come upon all that sit upon the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch
ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy
to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son
of man.
,
it's quite interesting to me that almost all of them - except this one,
in fact - are focused on Jerusalem and/or Sion; that may also be an
oblique reference to the Second Coming, and in particular to the Book of
Revelation. I am going to try to find out more about this.)
