O Come, All Ye Faithful
An invitation to go to Bethlehem and worship the newborn Christ, God from God.
The words are public domain. We print a hymn only after checking it word for word against a dated old printing, and this one hasn’t been checked yet. Hymnary has it now.
“O Come, All Ye Faithful” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
The hymn invites the faithful to come to Bethlehem and adore the newborn King. It says the child is true God, begotten of the Father, and it joins the angels' song of glory.
It rests on the Christmas story in Luke 2:1-20, where the shepherds go to Bethlehem to see the child, and on John 1:14, the Word made flesh.
It is sung at Christmas, often on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Latin hymn is linked to John Francis Wade around 1743, and Frederick Oakeley translated it into English in 1841.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Attributed to John Francis Wade, 1743 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | Frederick Oakeley, 1841 | Public domain |
| Tune | ADESTE FIDELES · Attributed to John Francis Wade, 1743 | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against hymnary.org text, tune and person pages (attribution and rights only). The words are not transcribed here yet.
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.