Behold Three Kings Come From the East

For Twelfth Day, Epiphany, Jan. 6

Author: Luke Waddinge

To the tune of “I doe not Love cause thou art faire”

One of the “Short Carols for Each Day of Christmas”

From

Luke Waddinge, A Small Garland of Pious & Godly Songs, 1684

Christmas Carols of Waddinge and Devereux

Source: Thomas Wall, A Pious Garland Being the December Letter and Christmas Carols of Luke Wadding (Dublin: M.H. Gill and Son, 1960).

Behold three kings came from the east,
Led by a star of stars the best,
Which brought them where they did espy
The King of Kings and Saviour lie;
With gold and myrh and frankincense,
They did adore this new-born Prince.

It’s strange what did these three kings see
That might by them adored be,
A tender Babe laid on the ground,
Yet they submit, sceptre and crown
Their gold, their myrh, their frankincense,
For to adore this new-born Prince.

Then let us with those three kings bring
Our gifts unto this new-born King,
Our sense, our will, our wit, our heart,
And all that e’er we can impart;
Our gold, our myrh, our frankincense,
For to adore this new-born Prince.