One of the advent hymns we don’t often sing is Toda la Tierra. It was originally a Catalonian text by a Spanish priest named Alberto Taulé, and translated into English (specifically for The United Methodist Hymnal) by Gertrude Suppe. Mrs. Suppe translated the opening line “Toda la tierra espera al Salvador” as “All earth is waiting to see the Promised One.” But in both Catalan and Spanish, “esperar” means more than “to wait.” It can also be “to wish,” “to expect,” and “to hope.”
In the Spanish translation of Psalm 33:20 (We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield) the modern NVI says “Esperamos confiados,” or “we wait/hope confidently,” and the traditional Reina Valera (in many ways the Spanish language equivalent of the King James) just says “Nuestra alma esperó,” or “our soul waited. It doesn’t need another word because hope is built in. Waiting isn’t always the easiest thing. But like many things in our faith, we do it because hope is built in.