Infants were slain because of Your Birth, O Giver of Life to all. But because the One sought for death was a King—our Lord, the Lord of the Kingdom—the tyrant cunningly offered slain pledges in His place. Wrapped in the mysteries of His killing, the earthly offerings were received by the heavenly ranks.
Refrain: Blessed is the King who exalted them.
All the kings of the house of David handed on to one another the throne and crown of the Son of David, like guardians of deposits. [Priests, prophets, and kings came to an end]; in One they reached their boundary and limit. When the Lord of everything came, He took everything from them and ended every succession.
Refrain: Blessed is He who clothed Himself in what was His.
The doves mourned in Bethlehem because the serpent destroyed their young. The Eagle set out for Egypt, to descend there and receive the promises. Egypt rejoiced in Him, for it had become [a means for repayment of its debts: it had killed the sons of Joseph]. Through the Son of Joseph it labored and repaid the debts of Joseph’s sons.
Refrain: Blessed is He who called Him out of Egypt.
The scribes read every day that a star would rise from Jacob. For the People there was the voice and the reading; for the nations, the rising and the interpretation. For them were the books, for us the events; for them the branches, for us their fruit. The scribes read it in the writings; the Magi saw its radiance in the deeds.
Refrain: Blessed is He who added their books to us.
Who is able to speak of the hidden and revealed movements of the radiant star that went before the bearers of gifts? It appeared and proclaimed the Crown; it hid and concealed the Body. In two ways it served the Son—as herald and as guardian: it guarded His Body and proclaimed His Crown.
Refrain: Blessed is He who made His heralds wise.
The tyrant watched the Magi when they asked, ‘Where is the Son of the King?’ Though his heart was dark, he tried to present a cheerful face. With the sheep he sent wolves to kill the Lamb of God. The Lamb was going to Egypt so that from there He might judge those whom He had once saved from there.
Refrain: Blessed is He who in turn subdued them.
The Magi told the tyrant, ‘When your servants joined us, the radiant star hid itself, and the paths too were concealed.’ The blessed men did not know that the transgressors sent as worshipers were murderers, seeking to destroy the sweet Fruit by whom the bitter ate and became sweet.
Refrain: Glory to You, Medicine of Life.
When the Magi received the command to go and seek Him, Scripture says that they saw that radiant star and rejoiced. It is therefore clear that it had been hidden, since they rejoiced at seeing it. It hid and thwarted the murderers; it rose and summoned the worshipers. It cast down one party and called the other.
Refrain: Blessed is He who triumphed on both sides.
How did the defiled child-killer overlook the Child? Justice restrained him, because he expected the Magi to return to him. While he delayed, intending to capture the Worshiped One and His worshipers, everything escaped his hands: offerings and worshipers flew from the tyrant to the Son of the King.
Refrain: Glory to the Knower of every design.
The innocent Magi, while sleeping on their beds, received understanding. Sleep became a mirror, and a dream dawned upon it like light. They saw the murderer and were shaken; his deceit and the sword he was sharpening flashed before them. The Watcher instructed the sleepers.
Refrain: Blessed is He who gives prudence to the simple.
The simple who believed came to know the two comings of the Messiah, while the foolish scribes did not even perceive one coming. The nations lived through the first and will rise there at the last. The People whose understanding was blinded were scattered by the first coming; the second will blot out their remembrance.
Refrain: Blessed is the King who came and is coming.
The Savior dawned upon the blind, yet they looked toward others. The Sun showed His rays, while they remained wrapped in darkness. The Bright One sent forth light and brought the sons of light so that they might expose the sons of darkness: ‘Behold, the Light is among you, but a veil lies over your eyes.’
Refrain: Glory to You, new Sun.
The prophets announced His Birth, but did not specify its time. He sent the Magi, who came and showed its time. Yet the Magi who made the time known did not explain which Child He was. The splendid radiant star interpreted Him through them all.
Refrain: Blessed is He who was interpreted through them all.
They suppressed Isaiah’s trumpet, which sounded concerning the pure conception. They silenced the lyre of the Psalms, which sang of His priesthood. They hushed the harp of the Spirit, which sang again of His Kingdom. Under deep silence they enclosed the great Birth that made those above cry out together with those below.
Refrain: Blessed is He who dawned from within silence.
His voice became a hidden key and opened the mouths of the Magi. When the heralds in Judah fell silent, the Magi sounded a voice throughout creation. The Gospel that those had rejected was taken up by those who came from afar. The rejecters began hearing their own proclamations from strangers crying out about the Son of David.
Refrain: Blessed is He who silenced them through our voice.
Because the People rejected offerings and did not bring them to the Son of the King, His messenger went out to the nations and brought them with their offerings. He did not bring them all, for Bethlehem’s little bosom could not contain them. But the bosom of the holy Church widened and received her children.
Refrain: Blessed is He who made the barren one fruitful.
The murderers harvested Bethlehem’s tender flowers, hoping that among them the tender Seedling in whom the Living Bread was hidden would perish. But the Ear of Life escaped, to come to the sheaves at harvest. The Cluster that escaped while young later gave Himself to the winepress so that His wine might give life to souls.
Refrain: Glory to You, Treasury of Life.
The transgressors entered a paradise full of young fruits. They tore blossoms from its branches and destroyed flowers and buds. Without knowing it, the persecutor offered pure offerings. Woe to him, but blessedness to them! Bethlehem was first to offer virgin fruits to the Holy One.
Refrain: Blessed is He who received the firstfruits.
When the scribes fell silent from envy and the Pharisees from jealousy, men of stone—who possessed hearts of stone—cried out and gave praise. They praised before the rejected Stone that became the Head. Stones were stirred by the Stone, acquired speaking mouths, and cried out through the Stone.
Refrain: Blessed is Your Birth that made stones cry out.
The Star written in Scripture was seen by distant nations, so that the nearby People might be put to shame. O learned and proud People, you in turn were taught by the nations how and where they saw that Dawn. Balaam, a foreigner, had announced it, and foreigners were the ones who saw it.
Refrain: Blessed is He who provoked those of His household to jealousy.
May my petition approach Your door and my need Your treasury. Give me, my Lord, without reckoning, as God gives to a human being. If You multiply gifts as the Son of the Good One and add more as the Son of the King, though I act unjustly as one made of dust—Adam’s son after Adam—You remain the Good One and the Son of the Good One.
Refrain: Glory to You who resemble Your Father.
The People does not perceive that it holds books which read out its debts. They cry about His departure, while speaking about our entrance. Behold, the foolish one reads in [his] books the promises that have fallen to us. While boasting in his books, he reads out his own accusation to us and bears witness concerning our inheritance.
Refrain: Blessed is He who wearied them for our rest.
A pair of heralds [spread] the meanings of the Only-Begotten: the radiant star and John—one a dawn, the other a voice. For the One proclaimed was both Word and Light. His servant [the voice] and the ray proclaimed the Dawn concerning His light, and the voice concerning His wisdom.
Refrain: Blessed is the [Firstborn] through His heralds.
[John looked at Him] and cried, ‘This is [the Lamb] of God.’ The [Lamb] had grown and matured, and He came to become an offering. John was not afraid as he cried, ‘Behold, this is He,’ even if the killers should set out, for the time of slaughter had come, so that through His blood forgiveness might come.
Refrain: Blessed is the Payer of our debts.
The radiant star was not like John. There were places where it shone and made the way straight for the simple, and places where it stood still and led the wolves away from the path. It guarded the Lamb from slaughter so that on His own day He might come to slaughter, through which the flock would receive forgiveness.
Refrain: Blessed is He who through Him saved [His possessions].