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GracelightDaily Office · 1979 BCP

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A Song to the Lamb (Dignus es)

Revelation 4:11, 5:9-10, 13.

Contemporary (Canticle 18)

Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 93

Splendor and honor and kingly power *

are yours by right, O Lord our God,

For you created everything that is, *

and by your will they were created and have their being;

And yours by right, O Lamb that was slain, *

for with your blood you have redeemed for God,

From every family, language, people, and nation, *

a kingdom of priests to serve our God.

And so, to him who sits upon the throne, *

and to Christ the Lamb,

Be worship and praise, dominion and splendor, *

for ever and for evermore.

History

In John’s vision of heaven, the elders around God’s throne cast down their crowns and sing that God is worthy, for he created all things. Then they and the four living creatures sing a new song to the Lamb who was slain, and every creature in heaven and on earth joins in. Some scholars think these hymns echo how the first Christians worshiped. The canticle first appeared in an American prayer book in 1979.

Sources: Themelios, “Songs of the Seer: The Purpose of Revelation’s Hymns”; Book of Common Prayer (1928), Morning Prayer; Book of Common Prayer (1979), Morning Prayer: Rite Two.

When it is sung

All canticles