Scripture Verse

We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him. Matthew 2:1–2

Introduction

Words: Ni­ko­lai F. S. Grundt­vig, 1810 (Dej­lig er den him­mel blå). Com­po­site trans­la­tion.

Music: Ce­les­tia Da­nish me­lo­dy, ar­ranged by Ja­cob G. Mei­dell, cir­ca 1840 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Mei­dell (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Nikolai F. S. Grundtvig (1783–1872)

Lyrics

Bright and glo­ri­ous is the sky,
Radiant are the hea­vens high
Where the gold­en stars were shin­ing
And their rays to earth in­clin­ing,
Beckoning us to Hea­ven above,
Beckoning us to Hea­ven above.

On that ho­ly Christ­mas night
Through the dark­ness beamed a light
All the stars above were pal­ing,
All their lus­ter slow­ly fail­ing,
As the Christ­mas star drew nigh,
As the Christ­mas star drew nigh.

Sages from the East afar,
When they saw this wond­rous star,
Went to the find the King of na­tions,
And to of­fer their obla­tions
Unto Him as Lord and King,
Unto Him as Lord and King.

Him they found in Beth­le­hem,
Yet He wore no dia­dem;
They but saw a maid­en low­ly
With an in­fant pure and ho­ly,
Resting in her lov­ing arms,
Resting in her lov­ing arms.

Guided by the star they found
Him whose praise the ag­es sound,
We too have a star to guide us
Which for­ev­er will pro­vide us
With the light to find our Lord,
With the light to find our Lord.

As a star God’s ho­ly Word
Leads us to our king and Lord;
Brightly from its sac­red pag­es
Shall this light through­out the ag­es
Shine upon our path of life,
Shine upon our path of life.