Two days before Christmas Eve, the antiphon reflects on Christ as the king and desire of the nations (see Isaiah 9:6 and Isaiah 2:4). This text was the impetus for the familiar "O Come Desire of Nations" verse in "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." Christ as "Rex Gentium" testifies to the Lordship of Christ and to his goal of reconciling the Gentiles to the people of Israel and saving the whole of humanity from its lostness.
O Rex Gentium
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.
O King of the nations, and their desire,
O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.
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