Scripture Verse

The shepherds said to one another, Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, who was lying in the manger. Luke 2:15–16

Introduction

Words: John F. Wade, cir­ca 1743. This trans­la­tion ap­peared, un­at­trib­ut­ed, in A Col­lect­ion of Hymns and Psalms for the Use of Sing­ing School and Mu­sic­al So­cie­ties, ed­it­ed by John J. Hus­band (Lan­cas­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1807), num­ber 49.

Music: Ades­te Fi­del­es, at­trib­ut­ed va­ri­ous­ly to John Wade, John Read­ing, or Si­mao Por­to­gal­lo (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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

Lyrics

Hither, ye faith­ful, haste with songs of tri­umph,
To Beth­le­hem go your Lord of life to meet;
To you this day is born a Prince and Sav­ior.

Refrain

O come and let us wor­ship,
O come and let us wor­ship,
O come and let us wor­ship
At His feet.

O Je­sus, for such won­drous con­des­cen­sion,
Our prais­es and rev­er­ence are an of­fer­ing meet;
Now is the Word made flesh and dwells among us.

Refrain

Shout His al­migh­ty name, ye choirs of an­gels,
And let the ce­les­tial courts His praise re­peat;
Unto our God be glo­ry in the high­est.

Refrain