We Three Kings of Orient Are, from Family Christmas Online™

The text of "We Three Kings" is draws on centuries of traditions about some fairly unknown characters in the Matthew Chapter 2. We do know that they were learned men from the east who came to worship the young Jesus, bringing gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Over the years, traditions from various countries have:

• Limited their number to three,
• Promoted them to kings,
• Given them names, ages, and races,
• Specified which kings brought which gifts, and
• Placed them at the stable next to the shepherds, when it's more likely that they arrived after the Holy Family had settled in somewhere.

Hopkins chose to draw on most of those traditions, and to expand upon the meanings of each gift:

• Gold recognizes kingship and more - the sacred vessels used in the Jewish temple were all made of gold.
• Frankincense denotes reverence - frankincense is also an important ingredient in the incense that the Jewish priests burned in the temple.
• Myrrh recognizes bitterness to come - myrrh was commonly used as an embalming spice, and in fact was used in Jesus' burial over thirty years hence.

When I was young, my dad an LP of the great operatic singer Mario Lanza singing this and other Christmas songs. I was so fascinated by the mental image of these three exotic travelers bearing their peculiar gifts that I took the time to memorize every verse of this song. When I first saw the Gian Carlo Menotti opera Amahl and the Night Visitors broadcast over network television, I was too young to really understand it, but it strengthened my notion that the "kings" were pretty neat fellows. Today, I realize that they were not kings, and that we don't really even know their names or how many there were. But what we do know about them makes their story even more fascinating and their sacrificial journey that much more inspiring.

For more information about the Magi of the Bible, please see our "musings" article Who were the Magi?

To hear an MP3 file of this song click here.

To download the melody only sheet music for this song in pdf format, click here

To download the SATB sheet music for this song in pdf format, click here

We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star

Chorus:
O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light

Born a King on Bethlehem's plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to rein

Chorus

Frankincense to offer have I
Incense owns a Deity nigh
Pray'r and praising, all men raising
Worship Him, God most high

Chorus

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes of life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb

Chorus

Glorious now behold Him arise
King and God and Sacrifice
Alleluia, Alleluia
Earth to heav'n replies

Chorus

If you have any corrections or comments you would like to make about this page, please contact me and I will be glad to hear from you. God bless - Paul