Joy To The World

For Christmas

Version 4

Joy To The World - Version 1
Joy To The World - Version 2
Joy To The World - Version 3

Words: Isaac Watts, Psalms of David, Psalm 98, 1719.

Music: "Antioch," Lowell Mason, 1848.
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF / XML

Source: William Henry Husk, Songs of the Nativity (London: John Camden Hotten, 1868)

1. Joy to the world, the Lord is come,
Let earth receive her King;
Let every tongue with sacred mirth
His loud applauses sing.

2. Hark, hark, what news, what joyful news
To all the nations round;
To-day rejoice, a King is born,
Who is with glory crown'd.

3. Behold! He comes, the tidings spread,
A Saviour full of grace:
He comes, in mercy, to restore
A sinful, fallen race.

Husk's Note:

This is a carol which is greatly admired in Devonshire and Cornwall, and obtains a place in many a collection of sheet carols printed in the West. It is certainly a hundred and fifty years of age, and may be even older. The first two lines are identical with those of a hymn by Isaac Watts, produced about 1709, of which the third and fourth lines are --

“Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing;”

but the remainder is entirely different. Perhaps the popularity of Watt's verses may have tempted the carolist to commit a little plagiarism.