1
Earth has many a noble city;
Bethlem, thou dost all excel:
Out of thee the Lord from heaven
Came to rule His Israel.
2
Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told His birth,
To the world its God announcing
Seen in fleshly form on earth.
3
Eastern sages at His cradle
Make oblations rich and rare;
See them give in deep devotion
Gold and frankincense and myrrh.
4
Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
Incense doth their God disclose,
Gold the King of kings proclaimeth,
Myrrh His sepulchre foreshows.
5
Jesus, whom the Gentiles worshipped
At Thy glad epiphany,
Unto Thee with God the Father
And the Spirit glory be.