Text: | Behold! behold! what wonders here! |
Author: | Paul Gerhardt |
Translator: | John Kelly |
Tune: | LIGHT OF THE NATIONS (Du lieber, heil'ger frommer Christ) |
1 Behold! behold! what wonders here!
The gloomy night turns bright and clear,
A brilliant light dispels the shade,
The stars before it pale and fade.
2 A wondrous light it is, I trow,
And not the ancient sun shines now;
For, contrary to nature, night
Is turned by it to day so bright.
3 What means He to announce to us,
Who nature’s course can alter thus?
A mighty work designed must be,
When such a mighty sign we see.
4 To us vouchsafed can it be
The Sun of Righteousness to see,
The Star from Jacob’s stem so bright,
The Woman’s Seed, the Gentiles’ Light?
5 ’Tis even so--for from the sky
Heaven’s hosts with joyful tidings hie,
That He is born in Bethlehem’s stall,
Who Savior is and Lord of all!
6 Oh blessedness! the goodly throng
Of sainted fathers waited long
To see this day, with hope deferred,
As we may learn from God’s own Word.
Text Information | |
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First Line: | Behold! behold! what wonders here! |
Author: | Paul Gerhardt (1667) |
Translator: | John Kelly (1867) |
Meter: | L. M. No. 1 |
Language: | English |
Publication Date: | 1908 |
Topic: | The Church Year: Christmas; Christmas |
Notes: | From the German text: Schaut, schaut, was ist fuer Wunder dar |
Tune Information | |
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Name: | LIGHT OF THE NATIONS (Du lieber, heil'ger frommer Christ) |
Meter: | L. M. No. 1 |
Key: | A Major |