All Praise to Thee, Eternal Lord
Built on a carol the congregation already knew, which was the whole strategy.
The words
All praise to Thee, Eternal Lord, Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood; Choosing a manger for Thy throne, While worlds on worlds are Thine alone.
Once did the skies before Thee bow; A Virgin's arms contain Thee now; Angels, who did in Thee rejoice, Now listen for Thine infant voice.
A little child, Thou art our guest, That weary ones in Thee may rest — Forlorn and lowly is Thy birth, That we may rise to heaven from earth.
Thou comest in the darksome night, To make us children of the light, To make us in the realms divine, Like Thine own angels, round Thee shine.
All this for us Thy love hath done; By this to Thee our love is won; For this we tune our cheerful lays, And shout our thanks in ceaseless praise.
As printed in Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church (1917), no. 18. Public domain: free to print, copy and share.
Old words in this hymn
- Thee, Thou
- you (speaking to one person, often to God)
- Thy, Thine
- your, yours
- Hath, Hast
- has, have
- Art
- are, as in “Thou art”, you are
About this hymn
Luther did not usually start from nothing. He took a German carol people had been singing for generations, kept the part they knew, and added stanzas that said plainly what the older version had only implied.
The result is a Christmas hymn about the incarnation with almost no scenery in it. No ox, no ass, no star. Just the fact: the one who made everything is now an infant who has to be fed.
It works well early in the Twelve Days, when the carols are still ringing and something plainer is welcome.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Martin Luther, 'Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ' (st. 1 from a 14th-century German stanza, based on an 11th-century Latin sequence), 1524 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | Anonymous, 1858 | Public domain |
| Tune | CANONBURY · Robert Schumann (arranged), 1839 | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church (1917), no. 18, via hymnary.org page scan (p. 342) and transcription; cross-checked word for word against Book of Worship with Hymns and Tunes (General Synod, 1899), no. 219, hymnary.org transcription
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.