Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Micah 5:2
Words: Possibly from a 14th Century Benedictine processional from the monastery of St. Georg, Hradlisch, near Olmütz (now Olomouc, Czechia) (Puer natus in Bethlehem). Translated from Latin to English by Richard F. Littledale in Lyra Messianica, edited by Orby Shipley (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, 1864), pages 69–70.
Music: Shalem Lowell Mason, Carmina Sacra (Boston, Massachusetts: John H. Wilkins & Richard B. Carter, 1844), page 49 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Littledale (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
A Child is born in Bethlehem
And joyful is Jerusalem.
He lies within a lowly stall,
The King who reigneth over all.
The ox and ass beheld that sight,
And knew Him for the Lord of Might.
The wise men hasten to their king,
And gold, and myrrh, and incense bring.
Sprung from no mortal father, He
Is born of pure virginity.
Unwounded by the serpent’s tooth,
He comes to us a man in sooth.
Like to the flesh man dwelleth in,
But all unlike to man in sin.
That He might bring our mortal race
Back to the image of His face.
A Child is born in Bethlehem,
And joyful is Jerusalem.
Now upon this, His natal day,
Bless we our infant Lord alway.