A virgin un­spot­ted,
The pro­phet fore­told,
Should bring forth a Sav­ior,
Which now we be­hold,
To be our Re­deem­er
From death, hell, and sin,
Which Ad­am’s trans­gress­ion
Had wrapp­èd us in.

Aye and there­fore be mer­ry,
Set sor­row aside,
Christ Je­sus our Sav­ior
Was born on this tide.

At Beth­le­hem ci­ty
In Jew­ry it was
That Jo­seph and Ma­ry
Together did pass,
All for to be tax­èd
With ma­ny one more,
Great Cæ­sar com­mand­ed
The same should be so.

Refrain

But when they had en­tered
The ci­ty so fair,
A num­ber of peo­ple
So migh­ty was there,
That Jo­seph and Ma­ry,
Whose sub­stance was small,
Could find in the inn there
No lodg­ing at all.

Refrain

Then were they con­strained in
A sta­ble to lie,
Where hors­es and ass­es
They used for to tie;
Their lodg­ing so sim­ple
They took it no scorn,
But against the next morn­ing
Our Sav­ior was born.

Refrain

The King of all kings to
This world be­ing brought,
Small store of fine lin­en
To wrap Him was sought,
But when she had swad­dled
Her young son so sweet,
Within an ox man­ger
She laid Him to sleep.

Refrain

Then God sent an angel
From Hea­ven so high,
To cer­tain poor shep­herds
In fields where they lie,
And bade them no long­er
In sor­row to stay,
Because that our Sav­ior
Was born on this day.

Refrain

Then pre­sent­ly af­ter
The shep­herds did spy
Vast num­bers of an­gels
To stand in the sky;
They joy­ful­ly talk­èd
And sweet­ly did sing,
To God be all glo­ry,
Our hea­ven­ly king.

Refrain

To teach us hu­mil­ity
All this was done,
And learn we from thence
Haughty pride for to shun:
A man­ger His cra­dle
Who came from above,
The great God of mer­cy,
Of peace and of love.

Refrain