Glory To God

“Glory to God” is a Christmas carol popular among American and Canadian Reformed churches that have Dutch roots. It is translated from the Dutch “Ere Zij God” and is one of the most cherished carols sung in the Protestant churches in the Netherlands.

Whether the original text is the Dutch “Ere Zij God” or the German “Ehre sei Gott”, the lyrics are influenced by the words that the angels sang when the birth of Christ was revealed to shepherds in Luke 2:14.

The hymn is therefore among a series that have actually drawn on that text, including Angels We Have Heard on High, Angels from the Realms of Glory, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, and, without a doubt the most ancient, the Greater Doxology or Gloria in Excelsis Deo.

The music is attributed to F.A. Schultz, of whom little is known other than for references by others that a Franz Albert Schultz composed a tune book while working at an university in Königsberg in 1731. No copies of this book are extant. Dutch tune books indicate the composition date as 1870. The music is grand in style, in the A-B-A type, with an extended, streaming double-Amen ending.

Glory To God (Lyrics)

Glory to God! Glory to God!
In the highest, in the highest, in the highest!
Peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth
To the people whom God delights in.

Glory to God in the highest, glory to God in the highest!
Peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth
To the people, to the people whom God delights in,
To the people whom God delights in, whom God delights in.

Glory to God! Glory to God!
In the highest, in the highest, in the highest!
Peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth
To the people whom God delights in.

Amen. Amen.