For Christmas Eve

Words: Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her, Martin Luther, Joseph Klug's Gesangsbuch, 1535
Translator: Anonymous

Compare: From Highest Heaven I Come To Tell (Verses 8 and following)

Music: “Erfurt,” Martin Luther
Geistliche Lieder, Leipzig, Germany, 1539?

Source: Book of Worship (Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Publication House, 1899), #77

1. Welcome to earth, Thou noble Guest
Through whom the sinful world is blest!
Thou com'st to share our misery,
What thanks shall we return to Thee?

2. Yet were the world ten times as wide
With gold and jewels beautified,
It would be far too small to be
A narrow cradle, Lord, for Thee.

3. Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

4. Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son has given;
While angels sing with joyous mirth
A glad New Year to all the earth.