In the assessment of Edward B. Irving Jr, "two masterpieces stand out of the mass of Anglo-Saxon religious poetry: The Dream of the Rood and the sequence of liturgical lyrics in the Exeter Book ... known as Christ I".

[8] The following passage describes the Advent of Christ and is a modern English translation of Lyric 5 (lines 104-29 in the numbering of the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records): Ēala ēarendel,     engla beorhtast, ofer middangeard     monnum sended, ond sōðfæsta     sunnan lēoma, torht ofer tunglas,     þū tīda gehwane of sylfum þē     symle inlihtes!

Swā þū, god of gode     gearo acenned, sunu sōþan fæder,     swegles in wuldre būtan anginne     ǣfre wǣre, swā þec nū for þearfum     þīn āgen geweorc bīdeð þurh byldo,     þæt þū þā beorhtan ūs sunnan onsende,     ond þē sylf cyme þæt ðū inlēohte     þā þe longe ǣr, þrosme beþeahte     ond in þeostrum hēr, sǣton sinneahtes;     synnum bifealdne deorc dēaþes sceadu     drēogan sceoldan.

Nū wē hyhtfulle     hǣlo gelyfað þurh þæt word godes     weorodum brungen, þe on frymðe wæs     fæder ælmihtigum efenece mid god,     ond nū eft gewearð flæsc firena lēas,     þæt sēo fǣmne gebær geomrum to gēoce.

God wæs mid ūs gesewen būtan synnum;     somod eardedon mihtig meotudes bearn     ond se monnes sunu geþwǣre on þēode.

[9] Hail Earendel, brightest of angels, Sent to men over middle-earth, And true radiance of the sun, Fine beyond stars, you always illuminate, From your self, every season!

As you, God born wholly of God, Son of the true Father, were ever In the glory of heaven without beginning, So now your own creation awaits you Through eternity in need, that you send To us that bright sun, and you yourself come So that you illuminate those who for the longest time, Covered by smoke, and in darkness here, Dwelled in continual night; enfolded in sins, They had to endure the dark shadow of death.

As presented in the Exeter Book, Christ I is divided into five sections, each marked by a large capital, a line-break, and punctuation, as follows: lines 1-70, 71-163, 164-272, 275-377, 378-439.

[10][11][12] Medieval manuscripts of the O Antiphons vary in order and content, meaning that the precise sources for several of the Christ I lyrics are uncertain.

[13]: 12–14 lapisque angularis qui facis utraque unum, veni, salva hominem quem de limo formasti Mary's conception of Jesus.

circuitu oculos tuos et vide Dominum Deum tuum, ecce jam veniet solvere te a vinculo.