Scripture Verse

Let us be glad and rejoice. Revelation 19:7

Introduction

Words: Har­ry R. Sho­wal­ter (1889–1992) (pub­lic do­main). Ap­peared in Zi­on’s Prais­es, com­piled by Aar­on Z. Weaver, 6th ed­it­ion (Pitts­grove, New Jer­sey: Wea­ver Mu­sic, 1987), page 130. Adapted by Ri­chard W. Ad­ams, 2024 (pub­lic do­main).

Music: Webb George J. Webb, 1830 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Sho­wal­ter (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or bet­ter one of Webb,

portrait
George J. Webb (1803–1887)

Lyrics

We come with song re­joic­ing
And grate­ful prais­es bring
To Je­sus our Redeem­er;
He is the King of kings.
We view Him in a man­ger,
Asleep up­on the hay,
When shep­herds came to wor­ship,
That first bright Christ­mas day.

Angelic choirs from Hea­ven
Proclaimed the news to them,
Sang glo­ry in the high­est,
Peace and good­will to­ward men;
In Da­vid’s town, they told them,
The place of God’s de­sign,
They’d find the new­born Sav­ior,
With swad­dling clothes the sign.

With haste they made the jour­ney
To near­by Beth­le­hem,
To see the things the an­gels
Had made known un­to them;
There they found Jo­seph, Ma­ry,
And in a man­ger lay
The pro­mised Child named Je­sus,
O what a joy­ful day!

The shep­herds were the first ones
To pub­lish it abroad,
The tid­ings of sal­va­tion,
Through Je­sus Christ our Lord;
The an­cient, time­less mes­sage,
The Church’s glad re­frain:
By faith in Christ our Sav­ior,
Eternal life we gain.

illustration
Adoration of the Shepherds
Antonio Balestra, circa 1707