Scripture Verse

Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. Luke 2:15

Introduction

portrait
Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676)

Words: Paul Ger­hardt, in Jo­hann Ebe­ling’s edi­tion of his Geist­liche An­dach­ten Fünfte Dut­zet, 1667 (Kommt, und lasst uns Christ­um ehr­en). Com­po­site trans­la­tion from Ger­man to Eng­lish.

Music: Quem Pas­tor­es me­lo­dy in a ma­nu­script from Hoh­en­furth (now Vyš­ší Brod, Czech­ia), 1410 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Come, your hearts and voic­es rais­ing,
Christ the Lord with glad­ness prais­ing;
Loudly sing His love am­az­ing,
Worthy folk of Chris­ten­dom.

Sin and death may well be groan­ing,
Satan now may well be moan­ing;
We, our full sal­va­tion own­ing,
Cast our ev­ery care away.

See how God, for us pro­vid­ing,
Gave His Son and life abid­ing;
He our wea­ry steps is guid­ing
From earth’s woes to heav’n­ly joy.

Christ, from Hea­ven to us des­cend­ing
And in love our race be­friend­ing,
In our need His help ex­tend­ing,
Saved us from the wi­ly foe.

Jacob’s Star in all its splen­dor
Beams with com­fort sweet and ten­der,
Forcing Sa­tan to sur­ren­der,
Breaking all the pow­ers of hell.

From the bond­age that op­pressed us,
From sin’s fet­ters that pos­sessed us,
From the grief that sore dis­tressed us,
We, the cap­tives, now are free.

Oh, the joy be­yond ex­press­ing
When by faith we grasp this bless­ing
And to Thee we come con­fess­ing
That our free­dom Thou hast wrought!

Gracious Child, we pray Thee, hear us,
From Thy low­ly man­ger cheer us,
Gently lead us and be near us
Till we join th’an­gel­ic choir.