Canticle of Zechariah — Luke 1:68-79

The song of a man who had been silent for nine months.

Zechariah doubted the angel and was struck dumb until the child was born. When he could speak again, this came out. The Church sings it at Morning Prayer every day of the year — the first full canticle of every morning.

The Canticle

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
because He hath visited and wrought the redemption of His people;

and hath raised up an horn of salvation to us,
in the house of David His servant;

as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
who are from the beginning:

salvation from our enemies,
and from the hand of all that hate us;

to perform mercy to our fathers,
and to remember His holy testament;

the oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
that He would grant to us,

that being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
we may serve Him without fear,
in holiness and justice before Him, all our days.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways;

to give knowledge of salvation to His people,
unto the remission of their sins,

through the bowels of the mercy of our God,
in which the Orient from on high hath visited us,

to enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to direct our feet into the way of peace. Amen.

About This Canticle

The text is Luke 1:68-79 in the Douay-Rheims translation. It is prayed at Lauds every morning, paired with the Magnificat at Vespers and the Nunc Dimittis at Compline — three canticles from the first two chapters of Luke, framing every day of the Church’s year.

Its last line is the one to carry into the morning: to direct our feet into the way of peace.