Lift Up, Lift Up Your Voices Now

Lift up, lift up your voices now!
The whole wide world rejoices now;
The Lord has triumphed gloriously,
The Lord shall reign victoriously.

In vain with stone the cave they barred;
In vain the watch kept ward and guard;
Majestic from the spoilèd tomb,
In pomp of triumph Christ is come.

And all He did, and all He bare,
He gives us as our own to share;
And hope, and joy and peace begin,
For Christ has won, and man shall win.

O Victor, aid us in the fight,
And lead through death to realms of light;
We safely pass where Thou hast trod;
In Thee we die to rise to God.

Thy flock, from sin and death set free,
Glad alleluias raise to Thee;
And ever with the heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Author: John Mason Neale

Year: 1851

This is a translation by John Mason Neale of the 14th-century Latin hymn 'Victimae Paschali' (or a variant of the Easter sequence). Neale's translation first appeared in his 1851 collection Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences. The text is sometimes attributed simply to the original anonymous Latin source, but Neale is the author of this English version.