Silent Night, Holy Night
A quiet Christmas lullaby about the night of Christ's birth, first sung in Austria in 1818.
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.
“Silent Night, Holy Night” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
The hymn describes the night Jesus was born: the mother and child at rest, the shepherds hearing the angels, and the light that shines from the Son of God.
It rests on Luke 2:1-20, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and the angels' message to the shepherds.
It is sung at Christmas, very often by candlelight on Christmas Eve. Joseph Mohr wrote the German words, and Franz Gruber wrote the tune in 1818. John Freeman Young's English translation dates from 1859.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Joseph Mohr, 1818 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | John Freeman Young, 1859 | Public domain |
| Tune | STILLE NACHT · Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818 | 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.