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A CHILD IS BORN IN BETHLEHEM

Scripture Verse

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

Introduction

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 (🔊 ).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Lit­tle­dale (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), would you send us an e-mail?

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

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.

illustration
L’Innocence
William-Adolph Bouguereau, 1893