Once o’er the hills of Ju­dah,
Burst forth a glo­ri­ous light;
Heralding the Mes­si­ah,
Shining in splen­dor bright!
And thro’ the air came steal­ing,
Sweetly on wings of morn;
From Hea­ven’s tow­ers peal­ing,
Jesus the Lord is born!

Refrain

Glory, glo­ry, glo­ry let us sing!
Glory to our heav’n­ly king!
Sound aloud His prais­es, sing a joyful lay,
This is our Sav­ior’s na­tal day!

Strange was His throne, O child­ren!
Only a man­ger cold!
But prince­ly gifts were brought Him,
Myrrh, frank­in­cense and gold.
Myrrh was the bit­ter to­ken
Of His great sac­ri­fice;
Frankincense, hom­age paid Him;
And gold, the king­ly price.

Refrain

Still through the air around us
Echo ce­les­ti­al strains;
Still o’er earth’s sin­ful dark­ness
That Light in gran­deur reigns;
What are the gifts we’ll bring Him?
No type of sor­row now!
Hearts’ pray­ers shall be our in­cense
And love shall crown His brow.

Refrain