“O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie!” is a quiet, prayerful Christmas carol that ends with a request every Christian can make: “Be born in us today.” It was written in 1868 by Phillips Brooks, an American pastor who had visited Bethlehem on Christmas Eve a few years earlier. Below are the lyrics, the story of the carol, the prophecy about Bethlehem, what it means, and a prayer.
O Little Town of Bethlehem lyrics
As printed in The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920):
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together,
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth!
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in;
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!
The story of the carol
Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) was rector of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia and later Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts. In 1865 he traveled to the Holy Land and on Christmas Eve rode from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, looked out over the fields where the shepherds had kept watch, and attended the long Christmas night service in the Church of the Nativity.
Three years later he wrote this hymn for the children of his Sunday school, and his church organist, Lewis Redner, composed the tune St. Louis. In Britain it is usually sung to Forest Green, an English folk melody arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Bethlehem in the Bible
Bethlehem, the city of David, was tiny, but the prophet Micheas foretold that the ruler of Israel would come from it: “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel” (Micheas 5:2; Micah 5:2 in modern Bibles). St. Matthew quotes this prophecy when the Magi come looking for the newborn King (Matthew 2:6).
The name Bethlehem means “house of bread.” The Church Fathers loved to point out that Jesus, the Bread of Life, was born there and laid in a manger, a feeding trough. Today the Church of the Nativity stands over the cave where tradition says he was born.
What the carol means
- The silence of Christmas night: “How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given!” God came quietly, without force.
- The hopes and fears of all the years meet in the child of Bethlehem: all human longing is answered in him.
- Meek souls receive him: Christ enters humble hearts, “in this world of sin.”
- “Be born in us today”: Christmas is not only a memory. Christ wants to be born in our hearts by grace, and he comes to us in Holy Communion.
- “Our Lord Emmanuel”: God with us, now and always.
A prayer for Christmas
Written for this page:
O holy Child of Bethlehem, you came silently into a sleeping world.
Cast out my sin and enter in; be born in me today.
Give me a meek heart that receives you,
and stay with me always, my Lord Emmanuel. Amen.
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote O Little Town of Bethlehem?
Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest in Philadelphia, wrote the words in 1868. Lewis Redner wrote the American tune.
What inspired O Little Town of Bethlehem?
Brooks’s visit to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve in 1865, when he saw the shepherds’ fields and attended the Christmas service in the Church of the Nativity.
Why is Bethlehem called “little”?
Because it was a small town, as the prophet Micheas said: “a little one among the thousands of Juda,” yet the Messiah was to be born there.
More for Christmas
- Christmas carols: lyrics and stories
- Silent Night
- O Holy Night
- Joy to the World
- Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
- Christmas Mass
- Catholic Christmas prayers
Texts and sources
- Lyrics: Phillips Brooks (1868), as printed in The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920), no. 35, public domain (Wikisource). Misprints corrected: “wondrous,” “coming,” “still,” “peace to men.”
- Scripture: Micheas 5:2; Matthew 2:6, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
- The prayer was written for this page.