Scripture Verse

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14

Introduction

portrait
Elias H. Johnson (1841–1906)

Words: At­trib­ut­ed Va­ri­ous­ly to St. Ger­man­us, 734, or St. An­a­to­li­us (Μέγα καὶ παράδοξον θαυμα). The trans­la­tion be­low ap­peared, ano­ny­mous­ly, in the Ev­an­ge­li­cal Lu­ther­an Hym­nal (Co­lum­bus, Ohio: Ohio Syn­od­i­cal Print­ing House, 1880), num­ber 35. Com­pare to John Ma­son Neale’s 1862 trans­la­tion.

Music: Aulé, ar­ranged from an old tune by Eli­as H. John­son, The Bap­tist Hym­nal (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Am­er­ican Bap­tist Pub­li­ca­tion So­cie­ty, 1883), page 47 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know the trans­lat­or,

Lyrics

A great and migh­ty won­der
Our Christ­mas fes­tal brings:
On earth, a low­ly in­fant,
Behold the King of kings.

The Word is made in­car­nate,
Descending from on high;
And che­ru­bim to shep­herds
Sing an­thems from the sky.

And we with them tri­um­phant,
Repeat the hymn again:
To God on high be glo­ry,
And peace on earth to men!

While thus they sing your mon­arch,
Those bright an­gel­ic bands,
Rejoice, ye vales and moun­tains!
Ye oceans, clap your hands!

Since all He comes to ran­som,
By all be He adored,
The In­fant born in Beth­l’hem,
The Sav­ior and the Lord!

And idol forms shall per­ish,
And er­ror shall de­cay,
And Christ shall wield His scep­ter,
Our Lord and God for aye.