God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, For Jesus Christ our Saviour Was born upon this day, To save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day. In Bethlehem in Jury This blessed babe was born, And laid within a manger Upon this blessed morn; The which his mother Mary Nothing did take in scorn. O tidings of comfort and joy, Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day. 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. O tidings of comfort and joy, Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day. Fear not, then said the Angel, Let nothing you affright, This day is born a Saviour Of virtue, power and might; So frequently to vanquish all The friends of Satan quite. O tidings of comfort and joy, Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day. The Shepherds at those tidings Rejoiced much in mind, And left their flocks a feeding In tempest, storm and wind, And went to Bethlehem straightway, This blessed babe to find. O tidings of comfort and joy, Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day. But when to Bethlehem they came, Whereas this infant lay, They found him in a manger Where oxen feed on hay, His mother Mary kneeling Unto the Lord did pray. O tidings of comfort and joy, Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day. Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place, And with true love and brotherhood Each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas All others doth deface. O tidings of comfort and joy, Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day.
Composition date is unknown The lyrical form of this poem is abcbdbeb. 1.
For the traditional English melody, see The
Hymnal, edited by David Holbrook and Elizabeth Poston(Cambridge,
Eng.:
University Press, 1967), pp. 236-37.
Theaccount of the visit of the shepherds to the Christ child is found in Luke2.8-20.
The history of this carol is in The New Oxford Book of Carols,ed.
Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott (Oxford:
Oxford University Press,1992), p. 527.9.
Jury:
Jewry, the land of the Israelites.
