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GracelightDaily Office · 1979 BCP

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The Song of Simeon (Nunc Dimittis)

Luke 2:29-32.

Contemporary (Canticle 17)

Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 93

Lord, you now have set your servant free *

to go in peace as you have promised;

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *

whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

A Light to enlighten the nations, *

and the glory of your people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Traditional (Canticle 5)

Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 51

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, *

according to thy word;

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, *

which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, *

and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

History

Simeon had been promised that he would not die before he saw the Messiah. When Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the Temple, Simeon takes him in his arms and sings this song. Its words “a light to enlighten the nations” are sung as candles are given out on the Feast of the Presentation, or Candlemas.

The Western church sang it at Compline, the last prayer before sleep. Cranmer moved it to Evening Prayer, after the second lesson. The first American prayer book, in 1789, left it out, and it did not return until 1892. The 1979 book also brings it back to Compline, with the antiphon “Guide us waking, O Lord.”

Sources: “Nunc Dimittis,” Catholic Encyclopedia; Book of Common Prayer (1549), Evensong; Book of Common Prayer (1789), Evening Prayer; Book of Common Prayer (1892), Evening Prayer; Book of Common Prayer (1979), Compline.

When it is sung

All canticles