IT Came Upon The Midnight Clear - Lyrics

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, goodwill to men,1

From heaven's all-gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,

With peaceful wings unfurled,

And still their heavenly music floats

O'er all the weary world;

Above its sad and lowly plains,

They bend on hovering wing,

And ever o'er its Babel sounds

The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled2

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not3

The love-song which they bring;4

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,5

And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,6

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours

come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

For lo!, the days are hastening on,

By prophet bards foretold,7

When with the ever-circling years

Comes round the age of gold8

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,9

And the whole world give back the song10

Which now the angels sing.

— Original five-stanza hymn

Alternative renderings:

1Peace on the earth, goodwill to all

2Beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled

3And warring humankind hears not

4The tidings which they bring

5O hush the noise and cease your strife

6And you, beneath life's crushing load

7By prophets seen of old

8Shall come the time foretold

9When the new heaven and earth shall own

The prince of Peace their King

10And all the world give back the song