Now shout for joy, all you pious

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Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, Palm Sunday icon, 19th century
Peter von Cornelius, The wise virgins

Well shout, all you pious is an Advent song composed by Michael Schirmer (1606–1673) , for which Johann Crüger (1598–1662) created the melody and published it in 1640 ( Newes Vollkömliches Gesangbuch Augspurgischer Confession , Berlin).

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The song that calls the “upright” to exulting joy shapes the Advent Gospel of the entry into Jerusalem ( Mt 21 : 1–11  Lut ). The coming of the Lord is depicted, who will remove the realms of "the devil". It is "the Lord of glory" (Str. 1, line 3), as it is worded in the Advent song Power up the door . While that song celebrates the coming of the Lord in an almost triumphalistic tone, this song turns to the baseness of the Redeemer: “without proud splendor” (Str. 1), “on a donkey”; “For us to sacrifice” as an allusion to the Passion (Str. 2).

While stanzas 1–3 describe the nature of this coming Redeemer to the church, stanzas 3 and 4 turn to the theme of rulership and rulers "on earth" based on the (nonexistent) insignia of power "no scepter, no crown" to, where his power appears only “veiled”, but his claim and his “advice” urgently remain. In Schirmer's original text, verse 4 originally began with the much more drastic formulation "You great potentates ...".

Verses 4 and 5 are specifically aimed at both groups of society, the rulers and the ruled. The latter, “poor and miserable”, live - still in a noticeable contrast to the “time of grace” from verse 1 - in “bad times”, which is contrasted with an encouraging “nevertheless”. They are actually the ones addressed as the “pious” in verse 1.

The final stanza about the transformation of sadness into joy (allusion to: "Those who sow with tears will reap with joy." ( Ps 126,5  Lut )) confirms the call to readiness , taking up the parable of the wise and foolish virgins the one who is "already on the track".

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1. Now shout for joy, all you pious,
in this time of grace,
because our salvation has come,
the Lord of glory,
although without proud splendor,
but mighty to devastate
and utterly destroy
the devil's kingdom and power.

2. He comes to us ridden
on a donkey
and stands in the middle
as a sacrifice for us.
He does not bring any temporal good,
he wants to acquire
through his death and dying alone
what will last forever.

3. He
looks for no scepter, no crown in this world: His kingdom is ordered to him in the
high heavenly throne
.
Here he will
conceal his power and majesty
until he
has accomplished the will of the father in suffering.

4. You mighty ones on earth,
accept this king
if you want to be advised
and walk the right path that
leads to heaven;
otherwise, where you despise him
and only seek majesty,
the wrath of the Most High will stir you.

5. You poor and miserable
in this evil time,
who
must have fear and suffering at all ends :
Be cheerful,
let your songs ring out,
sing praises to the king, he
is your greatest good.

6. He will soon appear
in his glory,
who
will turn all your lamentations and weeps into joy.
It is he who can help,
keep your lamps ready,
and always be ready,
he is already on the way.

The song can be found in the Evangelical Hymnbook (EG 9), in Fieren & Loben (FL 181), in the Mennonite Hymnal (MG 242) and in the hymn book of the Evangelical Reformed Churches in German-speaking Switzerland (RG 365).

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