Joy to the World

Summary


"Joy to the World" is a classic Christmas hymn poem that opens with a triumphant call for the earth to receive its King. Across four vivid verses, the poem moves from joyful proclamation to images of fields, floods, rocks, and plains echoing with praise. It speaks of sins and sorrows giving way to blessing, and a world ruled by truth and grace. The repeated refrains build a sense of rising, unstoppable joy that feels both communal and deeply personal.


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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.

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.

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.

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.

Credits

Unknown writer is the credited author of this hymn as it appears here, though the lyrics are widely attributed to Isaac Watts, the English hymn writer who published them in 1719 as a paraphrase of Psalm 98. The familiar musical setting most people recognise today was later arranged by Lowell Mason in 1848.