Behold the morning sun

This hymn setting by Johann Friedrich Samuel Döring opens with the SATB choir portraying the steady, glorious progress of the morning sun, with its beams conveying life and light across the nations. The music soon shifts, however, to depict the even diviner light of the gospel, which calls sinners from their tombs and gives sight to the blind. The text then moves to a reflection on God's perfect word, its judgments just and promises sure, leading to a prayer that its directions be read not in vain, but lead the singer to the path to heaven.