Outside the town the shepherds kept their watch beneath the dark,

Guarding flocks through ordinary hours beneath the scattered stars.

Then an angel stood among them and the glory flooded night,

Turning field and fear together in a sudden wash of light.

They trembled sore, but heaven's word began by saying, "Fear not,"

For joy was meant for all the people, not a hidden thought.

In David's city on that day a Saviour had been born,

Christ the Lord, with manger cloth the sign beneath the dawn.

One voice became a multitude,

The silence broke apart,

And heaven filled the grazing fields

With praise above their hearts.

Glory to God in the highest,

Peace on earth, good will toward men.

Glory to God in the highest,

Heaven has spoken over Bethlehem.

The night was never empty,

The sign was small and plain:

A child wrapped up and lying

In the manger for a sign.

When the host withdrew to heaven, shepherds answered what they'd heard:

They left the fields for Bethlehem to verify the word.

They came with haste and found them, Mary, Joseph, and the child,

Nothing more and nothing less than what the angel had described.

Then they made the saying known, and everyone who heard it wondered,

While Mary kept the words within and turned them over, pondered.

The shepherds went back working,

But the work could not erase

The field that burned with glory

Or the child they'd seen in place.

They glorified and praised God

For every promised thing,

For all had happened as they heard it

From the messengers who'd sing.

Glory to God in the highest,

Peace on earth, good will toward men.

Glory to God in the highest,

Heaven has spoken over Bethlehem.

They returned beneath the same stars,

But the same night was gone:

The Saviour had been born there,

And the shepherds carried on.