Bible Songs — Judgment and Second Advent

Behold the Bridegroom

Are you ready for the Bridegroom

No. 1326
Tune BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM.
Words R. E. H.
Music R. E. Hudson.
Key A major
Singing key G major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

Are you ready for the BridegroomWhen he comes, when he comes?Are you ready for the BridegroomWhen he comes, when he comes?Behold, he cometh! behold, he cometh!Be robed and ready; for the Bridegroom comes.

Have your lamps trimm'd and burningWhen he comes, when he comes;Have your lamps trimm'd and burningWhen he comes, when he comes:He quickly cometh! he quickly cometh!O soul, be ready when the Bridegroom comes.

We will all go out to meet himWhen he comes, when he comes;We will all go out to meet himWhen he comes, when he comes:He surely cometh! he surely cometh!We'll go to meet him when the Bridegroom comes.

We will chant alleluiasWhen he comes, when he comes;We will chant alleluiasWhen he comes, when he comes;Lo! now he cometh! lo! now he cometh!Sing alleluia! for the Bridegroom comes.

Chorus.

Behold the Bridegroom; for he comes, for he comes!Behold the Bridegroom; for he comes, for he comes.

D. S.—Behold, he cometh! behold, he cometh!Be robed and ready, for the Bridegroom comes.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: no running head on p. 537 (the page opens with the hymn); hymn number «1326» (large, left), title «Behold the Bridegroom.» centred (condensed capitals and small capitals: «B», «T», «B» full capitals); under it the epigraph in two lines of roman, «"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the / marriage: and the door was shut."—Matt. 25 : 10.» (old-style figures); on the next line «R. E. H.» at the left (words) and «R. E. HUDSON.» at the right (music). No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. All four stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«4.», between the staves of systems 1–3 (up to «Fine.»); in stanza 1 the word «Bride-groom» of systems 1 and 2 is set in a condensed bold face, unlike the rest of the line. «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over system 4, and the chorus words are printed once, in a smaller condensed bold face, between its staves. Under the bass staff of systems 2–3, in italics, the words sung after the «D. S.» (from the segno to «Fine.»): «D. S.—Be - hold, he com - eth! / be - hold, he com - eth! Be robed and read - y, for the Bridegroom comes.» Printed vertically in the left margin (reading upwards) beside systems 3–4: «Copyrighted 1881 by R. E. Hudson.»; under the music, centred: «From "Gems of Gospel Song," by permission.». A handwritten ink note at the top right of this copy, «Not in CH,», is not part of the print and is not transcribed here (see `uncertainties.md`). Each printed line of words carries parts of several verse lines; they are given here one verse line per line (joined across the system breaks: «Are you / ready for the Bridegroom», «Behold, he cometh! / behold, he cometh!» and their parallels). The words divided under the notes are joined here («Bride-groom», «burn-ing», «al-le-lu-ias», «Be-hold», «quick-ly», «sure-ly», «com-eth», «read-y», «al-le-lu-ia») — the divisions are in `lyrics_syllables.txt`. The print sets a thin space before «? ; : !» («comes ?», «comes ;», «cometh !»); it is closed up here; the apostrophes are written straight («trimm'd», «We'll»). Spelling («trimm'd», «alleluias»), capitals and punctuation are the print's: stanza 3 ends with a comma («comes,»), stanza 4's third verse line has «Lo! … lo!», and the D. S. line has «ready,» where stanza 1 has «ready;».