Lyrics Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66 - Offertorium - Peter Pears, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, The Bach Choir

Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66 - Offertorium

Boys:
Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omnium fidelium
defunctorum de poenis inferni,
et de profundo lacu:
libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas
tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum.
Chorus:
Sed signifer sanctus Michael
repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam:
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti,
et semini ejus.
Tenor and Baritone:
So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenched there,
And streched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo!
and angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him.
Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so,
but slew his son, —
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
Boys:
Hostias et preced tibi Domine
laudis offerimus;
tu suscipe pro
animabus illis, quarum hodie
memoriam facimus: fac eas, Domine,
de morte transire ad vitam.
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
en semini ejus.
Chorus:
…Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semini ejus.