I Shall You Tell A Great Marvel

Words: English Traditional, Before 1536

Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), pp. 34-5.

What, heard ye not, the King of Jerusalem
Is now born in Bethlehem?

1. I shall you tell a great marvel,
How an angel, for our avail,
Came to a maid, and said: "All hail!"
    What, heard ye not, the King of Jerusalem
    Is now born in Bethlehem?

2. "All hail," he said, "and full of grace,
God is with thee now in this place,
A child thou shalt bear in little space."
    What, heard ye not, the King of Jerusalem
    Is now born in Bethlehem?

3. "A child!" she said. "How may that be?
There had never no man knowledge of me."
"The Holy Ghost," he said, "shall light in thee."
    What, heard ye not, the King of Jerusalem
    Is now born in Bethlehem?

4. "And as thou art, so shalt thou be,"
The angel said, "in virginity,
Before and after in every degree."
    What, heard ye not, the King of Jerusalem
    Is now born in Bethlehem?

5. The maid answered the angel again:
"If God will that this be sayn,¹
The wordës be to me full fain."
    What, heard ye not, the King of Jerusalem
    Is now born in Bethlehem?

6. Now will we all, in rejoicing
That we have heard this good tiding,
To that Child Te Deum sing:
    What, heard ye not, the King of Jerusalem
    Is now born in Bethlehem?

Note:

1. Said. Return

Translation from Rickert: Te Deum laudamus is translated as "We praise Thee as God."

Note:

The burden in O Blessed God In Trinity is:

Te laudamus, Te Dominum
Confitemur, Te eternum

According to Edith Rickert, these phrases are translated as:

• Te laudamus, Te Dominum is translated as "We praise Thee as Lord."

• Te confitemur, Te eternum is translated as "We acknowledge Thee as eternal."

• Te Deum laudamus is translated as "We praise Thee as God."

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