1 Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed;
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.

2 He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor and mean and low
Lived our Savior long ago.

3 But our eyes in truth should see him
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heav'n above,
As he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.

4 Not in that poor lowly stable
With the oxen standing by
Shall we see him, but in heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high.
Then like stars his children, crowned,
All in white, his praise will sound!