A vir­gin most pure,
As the pro­phets do tell,
Hath brought forth a ba­by,
As it hath be­fell,
To be our Re­deem­er
From death, hell and sin,
Which Ad­am’s trans­gress­ion
Has wrap­pèd us in.

Refrain

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

At Beth­le­hem ci­ty,
In Jew­ry it was
Where Jo­seph and Ma­ry
Together did pass,
And there to be tax­èd,
With ma­ny one more,
For 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 get in the ci­ty
No lodg­ing at all.

Refrain

Then were they con­strained
In a sta­ble to lie,
Where ox­en and ass­es
They used to tie;
Their lodg­ing so sim­ple,
They held it no scorn,
But against the next morn­ing
Our Sav­ior was born.

Refrain

The King of all glo­ry
To this world be­ing brought,
Small store of fine lin­en
To wrap Him was sought,
When Ma­ry 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
A num­ber of an­gels
Appear in the sky;
Who joy­ful­ly talk­èd
And sweet­ly did sing,
To God be all glo­ry,
Our hea­ven­ly king.

Refrain

Three cer­tain wise princ­es,
They thought it most meet
To lay their rich of­fer­ings
At our Sav­ior’s feet;
Then the shep­herds con­sent­ed,
And to Beth­le­hem did go,
And when they came thi­ther,
They found it was so.

Refrain