Lyrics
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
“Fear not,” said he, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind,
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.”
“To you, in David’s town, this day
Is born of David’s line
A Savior, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:
“The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All simply wrapped in swaddling clothes,
And in a manger laid.”
Thus spoke the angel. Suddenly
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song:
“All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
To those on whom His favor rests
Goodwill shall never cease.”
Public domain hymn text (1700). Words by Nahum Tate.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Nahum Tate was an Irish poet who served as Poet Laureate of England from 1692 until his death. He wrote this hymn’s text in 1700, as a close, direct paraphrase of Luke 2:8-14.
That is the Gospel account of an angel appearing to shepherds watching their flocks near Bethlehem, to announce Christ’s birth, followed by a multitude of angels praising God.
Despite holding the prestigious official position of Poet Laureate for more than two decades, Tate’s own personal life was marked by chronic financial difficulty. He reportedly died in debtors’ refuge in London, having struggled with money problems for much of his career despite his considerable official literary reputation.
That was a genuinely difficult personal circumstance, standing in some contrast to the confident, celebratory tone of this particular hymn — one of his most enduringly popular individual works.
For well over two centuries following its original 1700 publication, this hymn held a genuinely unique official status within the Church of England. It was, for a considerable period, the only Christmas hymn formally authorized for use in the church’s official worship.
The Church of England historically permitted congregational singing only of direct psalm paraphrases or a small number of officially sanctioned hymns, rather than more freely composed devotional texts. This hymn’s close, faithful paraphrase of an actual Gospel passage allowed it to qualify for that restricted official approval, when many other, more loosely composed Christmas hymns did not.
That official status helps explain why this particular hymn became so deeply and widely embedded in English Christmas tradition specifically. It was sung for generations as effectively the only permitted Christmas hymn within England’s established national church.
That was well before England’s later, considerably more permissive embrace of Christmas hymns like ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’.
