> Maddy Prior > Songs > Joy to the World

Joy to the World

[ Roud 23690 ; Ballad Index FSWB375A ; words Isaac Watts (1674-1748), tune Lowell Mason (1792-1872)]

Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band sang Isaac Watts’ hymn Joy to the World on their 1991 CD Carols and Capers.

BACCApella, the singers of the BACCApipes Folk Club, sang Joy to the World on their privately issued CD of 1999, The Haworth Set.

Kate Rusby recorded Joy to the World in 2011 for her Christmas CD While Mortals Sleep.

The Albion Christmas Band sang Joy to the World in 2022 for their Talking Elephant album All Are Safely Gathered In.

Lyrics

Maddy Prior sings Joy to the World

Joy to the world! The Lord is come,
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the world! The Saviour reigns,
Let men their tongues employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins or sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make his blessings flow
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.