While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks is a Christmas carol by Nahum Tate, the English poet laureate, first printed around 1700. It is a close verse paraphrase of Luke 2:8-14, the angel's announcement to the shepherds near Bethlehem: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. For most of the 1700s it was the only Christmas hymn the Church of England allowed to be sung, because it stayed so close to the words of Scripture.
In 1700 English churches sang almost nothing but metrical psalms. Hymns written by poets were viewed with suspicion; only the words of Scripture were thought safe for worship. Nahum Tate, who with Nicholas Brady had produced a new version of the psalms, was allowed to add a small supplement, and one of its pieces was a paraphrase of the Christmas Gospel. Because it followed Luke so faithfully, it was approved, and for decades it was the one Christmas hymn heard in parish churches. Village choirs sang it to dozens of tunes, and it is still the carol many English-speaking Christians know by heart. Below are the six verses as printed in 1861, followed by 12 KJV verses that show how closely Tate kept to the Bible, line by line.
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks: the words
Verse 1
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
Verse 2
'Fear not,' said he; for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind;
'Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.
Verse 3
'To you in David's town this day
Is born of David's line
A Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:
Verse 4
'The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.'
Verse 5
Thus spake the seraph; and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song:
Verse 6
'All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from heaven to men
Begin and never cease.'
Words: Nahum Tate (1652-1715), first printed in the Supplement to the New Version of the Psalms by Tate and Brady (London, about 1700); for most of the 1700s it was the only Christmas hymn authorized for the Church of England. Text copied from the first music edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern (London: Novello, 1861), Christmas section (Internet Archive scan, Princeton Theological Seminary copy), checked against Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6 (1894), hymn 693 (Internet Archive scan); the angel's words are in double quotation marks in both and are printed here with single quotes. Where the 1861 printing reads And in the earth be peace, we print And to the earth be peace, as in the 1894 printing and most hymnals. Tunes: Winchester Old (Este's Psalter, 1592) in Britain; in the US usually Christmas, arranged from Handel. Public domain.
The angel of the Lord came down: Luke 2:8-11
1. Luke 2:8
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."
The carol's famous first line is Luke 2:8 set to rhyme. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Shepherds were ordinary working men, often looked down on, and their testimony was not even accepted in some courts. Yet God chose them to hear the news first. Bethlehem's fields supplied lambs for the temple sacrifices in nearby Jerusalem, so these may have been men who cared for the very lambs that would be offered for sin. On that night they were introduced to the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.
2. Luke 2:9
"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid."
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. Tate wrote, The angel of the Lord came down, and glory shone around, keeping even Luke's vocabulary. The glory of the Lord is the same shining presence that filled the tabernacle in Exodus and had not been seen in Israel for centuries. Now it appeared, not in the temple, but in a field at night, over a group of shepherds. Their fear was natural. Holy light exposes us. But the glory had come to bless them, not to destroy them.
3. Luke 2:10
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."
Fear not, said he; for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind. The angel's first words in Luke are Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Tate's line Glad tidings of great joy I bring to you and all mankind keeps the meaning and widens all people to all mankind, which the rest of the New Testament confirms. The word good tidings is the word gospel. This was the first gospel sermon after Jesus' birth, preached by an angel to a congregation of shepherds. For more, see our Bible verses about fear.
4. Luke 2:11
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Tate's third verse follows exactly: To you in David's town this day is born of David's line a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord. Three titles stand together. Saviour means He came to rescue. Christ means the anointed King long promised to Israel. Lord is the word the Greek Old Testament uses for the name of God. In one sentence the angel announces that the baby is Rescuer, King and God. And notice unto you: the good news is personal before it is universal. See also John 3:16 meaning.
This shall be the sign: born of David's line
5. Luke 2:12
"And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. A sign confirms a message. Babies wrapped in swaddling clothes were common; a newborn lying in an animal's feeding trough was not. Tate expands the sign into his fourth verse: The heavenly Babe you there shall find to human view displayed, all meanly wrapped in swathing bands, and in a manger laid. Meanly is old English for humbly or poorly. The sign of the Saviour was not splendor but lowliness. God marked His Son with poverty so that the poorest shepherds could find Him without fear.
6. Luke 2:7
"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."
Luke explains why the manger was needed: And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. Mary herself wrapped the baby, with no midwife mentioned and no comforts. The manger may have stood in a cave or the ground floor of a crowded house where animals were kept. Every Christmas carol about the manger leans on this one verse. The carol's phrase to human view displayed captures the wonder: the eternal Son could be seen, held and found by anyone who came to look.
7. 2 Samuel 7:16
"And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever."
Why does the carol stress David's town and David's line? Because of God's promise to King David a thousand years earlier: And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. After David's royal line collapsed in the exile, Israel waited for a Son of David who would reign for ever. The angel told Mary that God would give her son the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32). So the angel's mention of the city of David to the shepherds was not a geography note. It meant the promised King had been born.
8. Romans 1:3
"Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;"
Paul opens his greatest letter with the same truth. The gospel concerns God's Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. According to the flesh means in His human ancestry. Through Joseph legally and, many believe, through Mary by blood, Jesus belonged to David's family, which is why both Matthew and Luke trace His genealogy. The next verse of Romans adds that He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection. Born of David's line, Tate wrote; the Son of David was also the Son of God.
Begin and never cease: the angels' song and the shepherds' praise
9. Luke 2:13-14
"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
Tate's fifth and sixth verses follow the climax of the passage: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. The heavenly host is the army of heaven, but on this night the army came to sing, not fight. Glory to God comes first, because the birth of Christ shows God's wisdom and love more than anything else. Peace on earth follows, the peace with God that Christ came to make. Tate's closing line, begin and never cease, turns the angels' song into a song without end.
10. Luke 2:15
"And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."
The carol ends with the angels' song, but Luke keeps going. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. They did not stay in the field discussing the experience. They went, and Luke says they came with haste. Faith hears the word and then moves toward Christ. Many churches pair this carol with a reading of the full story; see our page on the Christmas story in the Bible.
11. Luke 2:20
"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them."
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. The shepherds went back to the same fields, the same sheep and the same night watches, but they went back changed. Their praise echoed the angels' song. They had found everything just as it was told them, and that is the shepherd's testimony to every generation: God's word can be trusted. The carol's last line, begin and never cease, is fulfilled in them. The song that started with angels was carried on by working men and has never stopped.
12. Isaiah 9:7
"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
The angels promised peace on earth, and Tate made their good will a gift that would never cease. Isaiah had foretold it: Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The child born in David's town is the King on David's throne, and His peace keeps growing. Isaiah ends with a guarantee: The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. For the verse just before it, see our page on Isaiah 9:6.
A short prayer
Lord God, thank You for sending the good tidings of great joy first to shepherds in a field by night. Thank You for the sign of a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, born in David's town to be our Saviour, Christ the Lord. Take away my fear as You took away theirs. Make me eager like the shepherds to go and see, and send me home glorifying and praising You. Let the angels' song of glory to God and peace on earth begin in my heart and never cease. Amen.
Go deeper: a SOAP study prompt
Pick one verse above and write: - Scripture: copy the verse by hand. - Observation: what does it say? Who is speaking, to whom? - Application: what does it mean for you today? - Prayer: turn it into a two-line prayer.
New to this method? See our Bible study guide or pick a Bible reading plan.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks?
Nahum Tate (1652-1715), an Irish-born poet who became England's poet laureate in 1692. With Nicholas Brady he wrote the New Version of the Psalms (1696), and around 1700 he added a supplement of hymns. While Shepherds Watched was one of them and soon became the best-known Christmas hymn in England.
What Bible passage is While Shepherds Watched based on?
It paraphrases Luke 2:8-14 almost line by line: the shepherds keeping watch, the angel of the Lord and the glory shining round, Fear not and the good tidings of great joy, the Saviour born in the city of David, the sign of the manger, and the multitude of the heavenly host singing glory to God and peace on earth.
What tune is While Shepherds Watched sung to?
In Britain the usual tune is Winchester Old, from Thomas Este's psalter of 1592. In the United States it is most often sung to Christmas, an arrangement of a melody from Handel's opera Siroe. Village choirs once used dozens of other tunes, including Cranbrook, which later became the Yorkshire song On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at.
Is While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks in the public domain?
Yes. Nahum Tate's words were published around 1700, and the usual tunes are from the 16th to 18th centuries, so the hymn is in the public domain in the United States and can be printed and sung freely.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: Angels We Have Heard on High · Hark! the Herald Angels Sing · The First Noel · Go Tell It on the Mountain · The Christmas Story in the Bible · Angel Gabriel · Christmas · Angels
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