While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around,
And glory shone around.
“Fear not!” said he; for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind,
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind,
To you and all mankind.
“To you, in David’s town this day,
Is born of David’s line,
The Savior who is Christ the Lord,
And this shall be the sign:
And this shall be the sign:
“The heav’nly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid;
And in a manger laid.
“All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace:
Good will henceforth from heav’n to men,
Begin and never cease,
Begin and never cease.”
ALONG WITH HIS FRIEND Nicholas Brady, Nahum Tate was a pioneer in church music. At the end of the seventeenth century, the Church of England still used the Psalter compiled by Sternhold and Hopkins in 1652. Tate and Brady recast the psalms in more “modern” language, publishing the New Version of the Psalter in 1696. Even though the old Psalter was often unpoetic and hard to sing, many resisted attempts to change it.
Eventually, though, King William III of England endorsed Tate and Brady’s New Version, and it became the standard psalter in both England and America. Ironically, many people later protested when translators tried to improve on Tate and Brady!
In 1700 Tate and Brady published a supplement of sixteen new hymns to go along with their psalms. This Christmas carol, a retelling of the shepherds’ story, was in that collection.
“And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Luke 2:12-14
From the book
