Christmas carols are heartwarming at any time of the year. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is a mid-18th-century song about Jesus and Christmas. The original lyrics were written in archaic English and edited to modern English over the years.
Do you know that the song had no proper tune for more than a century? It wasn’t until 120 years later that Felix Mendelssohn’s tune was used for the song, which is followed even today. It’s no surprise that the lovely melody made the Christmas song more popular and widespread.
Read on to get the lyrics of this beautiful song and more details about the original version.
Written Lyrics
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Christ by highest heaven adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Printable Lyrics
Download the printable PDF with lyrics in modern English. Click here to get the file.
Photo Lyrics
Save a copy of the image on your device.
Video Links
Check out this sweet video with a slightly different version of the song:
Here’s another video with lyrics:
Origins and History
Charles Wesley wrote Hark! The Herald Angels Sing in 1735 and revised it in 1743. A prolific hymn writer, he penned as many as 6500 hymns. He was also the leader of the Methodist movement. However, he used archaic English.
The song was first published in Sacred Hymns and Poems, a book co-written by Charles Wesley and his brother John Wesley. It was titled ‘Hymn for Christmas-Day’. The first line of the song was ‘Hark how all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of Kings’. Here, the word ‘welkin’ refers to heaven/ sky/ clouds.
The lyrics were edited by George Whitefield, an evangelist and a friend of the Wesley brothers. He changed the first line (welkin rings to herald angels) and added a refrain, ‘Glory to the newborn king’. Whitefield published the edited version in his Hymns for Social Worship collection in 1753.
John Wesley published a book in 1780 titled Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists. In the preface, he mentioned that he and his brother didn’t appreciate people editing the lyrics of their song.
He said that people could either sing the song as it is or add their versions in the margins instead of tinkering with the original lyrics. John Wesley also said that the brothers were not responsible for the ‘nonsense and doggerel’ others created by messing up the original lyrics. However, the book contained a version with the first line, ‘Hark, the Herald Angels Sing’.
FAQs
Felix Mendelssohn wrote a tune for Gutenberg Festival in 1840. It was William Cummings who used the tune with the lyrics in 1856 to come up with the version people sing today.
Yes. The lines, ‘Hark! The herald angels sing & glory to the newborn king!’ are repeated at the end of alternate stanzas.
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