A star, a star is burn­ing,
The bright­est in the sky—
Is shin­ing o’er a sta­ble;
Oh, tell me, shep­herds, why?
Within I see a mo­ther,
A ba­by on her knee:
Is this a roy­al pa­lace?
Can this a mon­arch be?

Refrain

We bow be­fore the In­fant,
To Him our hom­age bring;
Our God in flesh ap­pear­eth,
Of man and an­gels king.

Then where is haugh­ty Her­od,
With court mag­ni­fi­cal?
O where the priests, the Le­vites?
O where the princ­es all?
What! Lord, art Thou re­ject­ed
From low­ly vil­lage inn?
Are hearts so hard and blind­ed,
By un­belief and sin?

Refrain

And lo! a sud­den glo­ry!
The an­gel hosts ap­pear,
Ten thou­sand times ten thou­sand,
Their mon­arch to re­vere.
The hom­age earth re­fus­es,
The hon­or men with­hold,
The ang­els give, at­tend­ing,
In mul­ti­tudes un­told.

Refrain

The lamps of Heav’n are light­ed,
The sta­ble is ablaze,
And harp and lute and cym­bal
Resound the In­fant’s praise.
A sta­ble now a pa­lace,
The like was ne­ver seen!
Such splen­dor of at­tend­ance,
Such songs, such gold­en sheen!

Refrain

O Solomon! thy man­sion
Might not with this be told,
Thy ser­vants and thy so­ldiers,
Thy throne o’er­laid with gold.
Oh, blind the eyes of mor­tals
To such a glo­ri­ous sight!
Oh, sleep­ers, wake and wit­ness
The won­ders of this night!

Refrain