1. Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby
In a manger for His bed,
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little child

2. He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable
And His cradle in a stall
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

3. And through all His wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love and watch the lowly mother
In whose gentle arms He lay;
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.

4. Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by
We shall see Him, but in heaven
Set at God's right hand on high
When like stars His children crown'd
All in white shall wait around.