Bethlehem! Of noblest cities,
None can once with thee compare
Thou alone the Lord from heaven,
Did for us incarnate bear.

Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told his birth
To the lands their God announcing,
Hid beneath a form of earth.

By its lambent beauty guided,
See, the Eastern Kings appear,
See them bend, their gifts to offer,
Gifts of incense, gold and myrrh.

Solemn things of mystic meaning
Incense doth the God disclose;
Gold a royal Child proclaimeth;
Myrrh a future tomb foreshows.

Holy Jesus, in your brightness,
To the Gentile world display'd;
With the Father and the Spirit,
Endless praise to thee be paid.