verse 1

It came upon a midnight clear
That glorious song of old
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold
Peace on the earth, good will to men
From heaven’s all gracious King
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

verse 2

Still through the cloven skies they come
On peaceful wings unfurled
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world
A-bove its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wings And ever o’er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

verse 3

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and man at war with man hears not
the peaceful words they bring.
O hush your noise ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.

verse 4

O ye, beneath life’s crushing load
Whose forms are bending low
Who toil along the upward way
With painful steps and slow
Look now for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing
O rest be-side the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

verse 5

For lo, the days are hastening on,
by prophets seen of old
When with the every circling years
comes round the age of gold
When Peace shall over all the earth,
Her ancient splendors fling,
And all the Earth send back the song
Which now the angels sing.