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You are God (Te Deum laudamus)

Contemporary (Canticle 21)

Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 95

You are God: we praise you;

You are the Lord; we acclaim you;

You are the eternal Father:

All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,

Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.

The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.

The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;

Father, of majesty unbounded,

your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,

and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the king of glory,

the eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free

you did not shun the Virgin's womb.

You overcame the sting of death

and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God's right hand in glory.

We believe that you will come and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,

bought with the price of your own blood,

and bring us with your saints

to glory everlasting.

Traditional (Canticle 7)

Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 52

We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud,

the Heavens and all the Powers therein.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry:

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;

Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the apostles praise thee.

The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee.

The noble army of martyrs praise thee.

The holy Church throughout all the world

doth acknowledge thee,

the Father, of an infinite majesty,

thine adorable, true, and only Son,

also the Holy Ghost the Comforter.

Thou art the King of glory, O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man,

thou didst humble thyself to be born of a Virgin.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,

thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants,

whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy saints,

in glory everlasting.

History

Legend has it that St. Ambrose and St. Augustine made up the Te Deum verse by verse at Augustine’s baptism in 387. No one knows who really wrote it; some scholars credit Niceta, a bishop in what is now Serbia, around 400. The Rule of St. Benedict appoints it near the end of the night office on Sundays, and Cranmer made it the first canticle of Morning Prayer.

It has long been the church’s great hymn of thanksgiving, sung at coronations and after victories, and set by Handel and many other composers. Both versions here end at “glory everlasting,” leaving off the psalm verses that were added to it later. The contemporary version adapts the shared ecumenical translation from the International Consultation on English Texts.

Sources: “Te Deum,” Catholic Encyclopedia; The Rule of St. Benedict; Book of Common Prayer (1549), Matins; English Language Liturgical Consultation, “Te Deum Laudamus”.

When it is sung

All canticles