Joy to the World Lyrics and Interesting Story Behind the Christmas Song

Verse 1

Joy to the world; the Lord is come;

Let Earth receive her King;

Let ev'ry heart prepare him room,

And heav'n and nature sing.

Verse 2

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns;

Our mortal songs employ,

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,

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.

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.

"Joy to the World" was written by Isaac Watts in 1719. Watts was an English minister and hymn writer. He is often called the “Father of English Hymnody” because he wrote between 600-750 hymns that are still sung today. This song was first published in his book The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament.

At first, this song was not written as a Christmas carol. The "Joy to the World" lyrics are based on Psalm 98 with a reference to Genesis 3. Watts wrote about the joy of Messiah’s coming to reign and His victory over sin, not about Christ's birth in Bethlehem. Later, people began to sing it at Christmas because the song’s message is full of joy and hope.

The hymn has four verses. The first and second talk about heaven and earth rejoicing when the King comes. The third verse, linked to Genesis 3, speaks about Christ’s blessings removing the curse of sin, though this part is sometimes left out of hymn books. The fourth verse celebrates Christ as ruler of the nations and invites everyone to rejoice in God’s faithfulness.

The tune we sing today was added more than a century later. In the 1830s, an American composer named Lowell Mason arranged the melody and called it Antioch. He said it was inspired by Handel, although that connection is still debated. Mason’s version gave the hymn its strong and joyful sound, which helped make it a very popular Christmas song to this day.