Of the Father's Love Begotten
An early Christian hymn on Christ as God's eternal Son, born of Mary, praised forever.
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.
“Of the Father's Love Begotten” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
The hymn says that Christ is the eternal Son, the beginning and end of all things. It then tells of his birth from Mary, recalls that the prophets foretold him, and calls all creation to praise him 'evermore and evermore'.
It rests on John 1:1-14, the Word who was with God and became flesh, and on Revelation 22:13, where Christ is the Alpha and Omega.
It is sung at Christmas. The Latin poet Prudentius wrote the original in Spain in the early 400s. John Mason Neale translated it in 1854, and Henry Baker revised it in 1861.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, 405 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | John Mason Neale; revised and expanded by Henry Williams Baker, 1854 | Public domain |
| Tune | DIVINUM MYSTERIUM · Plainsong, 12th-13th century; in Piae Cantiones (1582), 1582 | 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.