The Story of "Joy to the World"

The Christmas season would not be complete without singing Joy to the World, the most joyous of the Christmas carols. Ironically, the author of the hymn, Isaac Watts, never intended it to be a Christmas carol. It was actually a part of his Psalms of David Imitated, which was published in 1719, which was comprised of paraphrases of much of the Psalms in New Testament language.

Joy to the World is the story of the author, Isaac Watts (1675-1748), who is considered to be "The Father of English Hymnody". He deserves the title, not only because he wrote the first English hymns, but because he gave impetus to hymnody and established its place in English Church worship.

Congregational singing had been strictly limited to the Psalms of the Old Testament in poetic form for more than one hundred years. Some of these Psalms rhymed so unnaturally that Samuel Wesley, labeled them to be "scandalous doggerel," and many shared his opinion.

 Joy to the World is inspired by the final half of Psalm 98. The author changed the old Jewish psalm of praise for a historic deliverance into a Christian song of praise for the salvation of God that began to be when the Babe of Bethlehem came "to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found."

The tune to the song is attributed to George Frederick Handel and has similarities to phrases of his great oratorio, Messiah. Notably the first four tones match the beginning of the chorus, "Lift Up Your Heads."

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 world, 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.

Learn to play beautiful Christmas Carols on your piano -- click here