God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray:
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy!
O tidings of comfort and joy!
In Bethlehem, in Jewry,
This blessed babe was born;
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn:
The which His mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn:
From God, our heavenly Father,
A blessed angel came;
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name:
‘˜Fear not,’ then said the angel,
‘˜Let nothing you affright;
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might:’
The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding,
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightaway,
The Son of God to find:
But when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay;
His mother Mary kneeling down
Unto the Lord did pray:
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and fellowship
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All bitterness displace: