While the world await­ed God’s re­deem­ing love—
Came to Jo­seph, dream­ing, Ga­bri­el from above:
God would have you take this vir­gin as your wife,
For the Child with­in her is the Lord of Life!

Lo! the wea­ry fa­mi­ly tra­vels on its way
To the Ho­ly Ci­ty for the night to stay.
Called for an ac­count­ing un­to Beth­le­hem—
There would the Mes­si­ah bloom from Jes­se’s stem.

Since there was no place for them to set­tle down—
They, with beasts of bur­den, rest­ed on the ground.
And in David’s ci­ty ear­ly that next morn,
Clothed in hu­man ves­ture, Word of God was born.

Jesus Christ, our Sav­ior—born up­on this day:
Ox and ass sur­round Your bed of gold­en hay.
In the hum­ble sta­ble, man­ger for Your rest—
Sleep now, in­fant Je­sus, as the world is blest!