The third "O Antiphon" meditates on Jesus's lineage, or as the prophet Isaiah puts it, the "Root of Jesse (see Isaiah 11). Many beautiful Advent/Christmas song texts such as Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming, There is no Rose, and A Spotless Rose also envision the coming Christ as a root or flower growing out of the stump of Jesse, the kingly line of David through which the rule of God would be restored. If you have been listening to the recordings, you have likely noticed that the antiphons surround the singing of the Magnificat, or Mary's Song, which Jesus's mother sang about the kind of kingdom he would bring.
O Radix Jesse
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.
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