Bethlehem Ephratah, 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: Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, second series (London: James Nisbet, 1861), pages 296–97, alt.
Music: I Speak of Bethlehem Scott Werdebaugh, 2019 (🔊 pdf nwc).
I SPEAK OF BETHLEHEM
© 2019 Scott Werdebaugh
This music may be freely reproduced or published for Christian worship or devotions, provided it is not altered, & this notice is on each copy. All other rights reserved.
They speak to me of princely Tyre,
That old Phoenician gem,
Great Sidon’s daughter of the north;
But I will speak of Bethlehem.
They speak of Rome and Babylon―
What can compare with them?
So let them praise their pride and pomp;
But I will speak of Bethlehem.
They praise the hundred-gated Thebes,
Old Mizraim’s diadem,
The city of the sand-girt Nile,
But I will speak of Bethlehem.
They speak of Athens, star of Greece,
Th’Acropolis of fame;
Its haunts of wisdom, art so fair,
But I will speak of Bethlehem.
Dear town, where Heav’n came down to earth,
Where Jesse’s stem did bloom,
Where Jacob’s star first shone; of thee
I’ll speak, O happy Bethlehem!