Nunc Dimittis

Simeon’s song of joyful release has been part of the Church’s daily offering of prayer since the fourth century (see Apostolic Constitutions 7.48). Its images of peace and light make it particularly appropriate for the evening. In the East it is used at Vespers. In the West it is generally associated with Compline or Night Prayer and in some traditions with Evening Prayer.

It also has a history of use after the Eucharist. In the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom it is part of the devotions prescribed after receiving holy communion, and it has had a similar use in Lutheran and Reformed worship.

The ICET text has been well accepted, and the only change proposed by ELLC is in the first line, to bring it closer to the original Greek.

Line 1. The Greek text begins with an emphatic “Now” and gives to lines 1 and 2 the sense of “At last, here is the moment I have been waiting for so eagerly. At this very moment, the Lord’s promise has been fulfilled.” This meaning has been obscured in the traditional renderings followed by ICET, and the Consultation has sought to make it more evident. The comma after “Now” should be observed by pausing a little on the first word, or the unintended effect may be that of scolding the Lord! It should also be noted that the opening line is declaratory: God is releasing his servant and is not being asked to do so. The Greek vocabulary ( despotes , “master,” and doulos , “slave”) shows that what is envisaged here is an owner/slave relationship; the verb in “you let your servant go” contains the technical idea of the freeing of a slave. Here, death is the instrument of release. The same verb ( apoluein ) is used in the Septuagint of the deaths of Aaron (Numbers 20:29) and Tobit (Tobit 3:6).

Line 2. “your word.” This refers back to the divine promise in Luke 2:26. The colon at the end of this line in ICET has been changed to a period, since it was awkward having another colon at the end of line 4 subordinate to one here.

Line 3. The introduction of a part of the body is typically Hebraic. The emphasis has been kept and made more natural in English by the translation “my own eyes.”

Line 4. The emphasis of another Hebraism has been maintained by “in the sight of.” The use of the plural of laos (“the peoples”) is difficult, particularly with the word ethnon (“nations”) occurring in the next line. The plural of laos (Acts 4:25-27) may mean Israel, but here it almost certainly means the nations of the world. “Peoples” is no longer comfortable in modern English, so the phrase “every people” is used.

Lines 5-6. “light” and “glory.” These are taken to be in apposition to “salvation.” The Messiah is the full shining of the Shekinah or “glorious presence” in the midst of Israel, and sheds universal light on the gentiles.

The revelation which Christ brings needs more than a word like “lighten” or “illumine”; and while the word “revelation” has been avoided as hard to sing, the idea has been conveyed as a verb.

An accurate translation of the word ethnon (“nations”) would be “gentiles” or “heathen” in contrast to Israel, but such words would be inappropriate in today’s climate of thought—hence “nations,” which is equally faithful.