Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
Micah 5:2
Words: Anonymous, in The Book of Worship (New York: New Church Board of Publications, 1876), number 144.
Music: Stuttgart in Psalmodia Sacra, by Christian F. Witt (Gotha, Germany: 1715). Adapted by Henry J. Gauntlett (1805–1876) (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Witt (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Bethlehem in land of Judah,
Who shall all thy glory tell?
Out of thee the Lord from Heaven
Came to rule His Israel.
Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told His birth,
To the world its God announcing
Seen in fleshly form on earth.
Eastern sages at His cradle
Make oblations rich and rare;
See them give, in deep devotion,
Gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
Sacred gifts of mystic meaning;
Incense doth their faith disclose,
Gold their hearts’ best love proclaimeth,
Myrrh obedience foreshows.
Jesus, whom the Gentiles worshipped
At Thy glad epiphany,
Unto Thee, our only Father,
God, and Savior, glory be.