Scripture Verse

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

Introduction

Words: George B. Ne­vin, 1898.

Music: Ba­ma­ko George B. Ne­vin, 1898 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Ne­vin (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

When Christ was born in Beth­le­hem,
Was born of mo­ther mild,
The wise men came with in­cense rare
Unto the ho­ly Child:
The bells of Heav’n rang out with joy,
The shep­herds joined the strain—
And all the earth sang loud and clear
Of peace on earth to men.

The Christ had brought this bless­èd peace
To hearts with sin op­pressed,
And now, as then, the wea­ry soul
May find in Him its rest.
O let us all re­joice and sing,
And shout the joy­ful strain
That Christ, the bless­èd Son of God
O’er Heav’n and earth doth reign.

All hail the Christ, the migh­ty King!
The re­as­cend­ed Lord!
Whom an­gels praise with joy­ful songs,
By hosts re­deemed, ad­ored,
And as of old, the an­gels sang,
Now let our voic­es raise—
A song of joy, of peace, of hope,
Of ev­er­last­ing praise.