Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

"Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"
Hymn by Philipp Nicolai
First publication in Nicolai's 1599 Frewdenspiegel deß ewigen Lebens
English	"Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying"
Other name	Sleepers Awake
Related	Chorale cantata by Bach
Text	by Philipp Nicolai
Language	German
Published	1599 (1599)

"Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (literally: Awake, the voice is calling us) is a Lutheran hymn written in German by Philipp Nicolai, first published in 1599 together with "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern". It appears in German hymnals and in several English hymnals in translations such as "Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling" (Francis Crawford Burkitt, 1906) "Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying" (Catherine Winkworth, 1858) or "Up! Awake! From Highest Steeple" (George Ratcliffe Woodward, 1908). The hymn is known as the foundation of Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, as well as being the foundation of settings by other composers.

Philipp Nicolai wrote the hymn in 1598, a time when the plague had hit Unna where he lived as a preacher after studies in theology at the University of Wittenberg, for six months. The text is based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins (). Nicolai refers to other biblical ideas, such as from the Revelation the mentioning of marriage () and the twelve gates, every one of pearl (), and from the First Letter to the Corinthians the phrase "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard" (). Portions of the melody are similar to the older hymn tune In dulci jubilo ("In sweet rejoicing") and to Silberweise ("Silver Air") by Hans Sachs.