Joy to the world, the lord is "COME" ????

0Interesting - I always sang it as "The lord HAS come," but a quick Google search shows me that "IS come" is more common.02br
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00It's a slighly odd (perhaps old?) use of "is." Because it's a Christmas carol, you sing it about Jesus' birth. Since he has been born, he has (now) come. 0-

0 01i00Is come02i00 just reflects the German 01i00ist gekommen02i00. In German the equivalent of 01i00is02i00 must often be used as the auxiliary of the perfect tense.02br
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00Cheers02br
00CB0-

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01cite10Cool Breeze12cite11i10Is come12i10 just reflects the German 11i10ist gekommen12i10. In German the equivalent of 11i10is12i10 must often be used as the auxiliary of the perfect tense.12br
12br
10Cheers12br
10CB12br
12blockqu

0 In many old English texts, "to be" is used as an auxiliary verb instead of the contemporary form with "to have." 0-

0 01blockquote

00what is the meaning, and when [do] we have to use this structure ?12blockquote

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01i00The Lord is come02i00 means 01i00The Lord has come02i00. As explained above, the auxiliary for many verbs used to be BE, but these have all changed to HAVE in modern English.02br
00 Never u

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01font10I always thought it was a remnant of the French (Norman Invasion, 1066). There is a handful of verbs in French conjugated with "to be" rather than "to have" in the 11i10passé composé12i10 (past) tense. Rise, [to be] born, arrive, leave, go (all "coming and going" verbs) are some examples. We also sing "

0CB, I'm grateful we didn't end up with all those ways to say "the" either!0-

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01cite10Grammar Geek12cite10CB, I'm grateful we didn't end up with all those ways to say "the" either!12br
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10Hi GG02br
00You can't include everything in a short discussion.05000 I'll buy you a Velko anyway...02br
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00Cheers02br
00CB010id1

Indeed, if one is speaking MODERN English then using a MODERN phrase is appropriate. However, in the context of this Hymn, the more archaic phrase IS COME is correct and appropriate.

As well, although we acknowledge that Jesus WAS born some 2000+ years ago, there is some theological significance to acknowledging that he IS born (IS COME) each and every Christmas -- he IS come into our he

In this case "come" is an adjective describing the fact that Jesus has come to earth, he has been born (accomplished). You must remember that this language is somewhat old, the song was written in 1719. We would say today: "Joy to the world, the Lord has come."

If you say "The Lord is coming" that would mean that he will come in the future or that he is in the process of coming to earth