Joy to the World
One of the 94 hymns we sing together at Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church on the Gold Coast. Browse the full hymnbook.
Lyrics
Verse 1
Joy to the world! The Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Verse 2
Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
Verse 3
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
Verse 4
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
Behind the Hymn
"Joy to the World" was written by Isaac Watts in 1719, though it was not originally intended as a Christmas carol. Watts wrote it as a paraphrase of Psalm 98, which celebrates God's coming to judge the earth with righteousness — it was meant to be a hymn about Christ's second coming, not His first. However, over time the song's joyful declarations about the Lord's coming to earth naturally became associated with Christmas. The tune most commonly used, attributed to or adapted from George Frideric Handel's "Messiah" (though this attribution is debated), was arranged by American choirmaster Lowell Mason in 1839. Watts, a Nonconformist minister in London, is considered the "Father of English Hymnody" because he pioneered the practice of writing original hymns for congregational singing rather than exclusively using metrical psalm paraphrases. "Joy to the World" reflects Watts' genius for taking Scripture and expressing it in memorable, singable verse. It has become the most published hymn in North America and is sung by more people worldwide during the Christmas season than any other carol. The irony that a hymn about the second coming became the world's most popular Christmas song is itself a testament to how the joy of Christ's advent — past and future — is inseparable.