"We Three Kings", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol that was written by John Henry Hopkins, Jr. in 1857. At the time of composing the carol, Hopkins served as the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and he wrote the carol for a Christmas pageant in New York City. Many versions of this song have been composed and it remains a popular Christmas carol.
We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.
Refrain
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 reign.
Refrain
Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshiping God on high.
Refrain
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.
Refrain
Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia!, Alleluia!,
Rings through the earth and skies.
Refrain
"We Three Kings" is a Christmas carol written by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
We Three Kings may also refer to:
We Three Kings: Christmas Favorites is a holiday album by The Reverend Horton Heat. It was released by Yep Roc Records in October 2005. The album features renditions of twelve popular Christmas songs. It also features one original track.
A limited edition Christmas ornament was included with copies of the album that were pre-ordered through the band's record label.
We Three may refer to:
We Three is an album recorded by American drummer Roy Haynes with Phineas Newborn and Paul Chambers in 1958 for the New Jazz label.
Allmusic awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This trio had a brief recording career together, but as this solid set shows, they made the best of it".
"We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)" was a 1940 hit song for Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra written by Nelson Cogane, Sammy Mysels, and Dick Robertson.
The Magi (/ˈmædʒaɪ/ or /ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, were, in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition, a group of distinguished foreigners who visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition.
According to Matthew, the only one of the four Canonical gospels to mention the Magi, they came "from the east" to worship the "king of the Jews". Although the account does not mention the number of Magi, the three gifts has led to the widespread assumption that there were three men. In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve. Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Psalms 72:11, "May all kings fall down before him".
Traditional nativity scenes depict three "kings" visiting the infant Jesus on the night of his birth, in a manger accompanied by the shepherds and angels, but this should be understood as an artistic convention allowing the two separate scenes of the Adoration of the Shepherds on the birth night and the later Adoration of the Magi to be combined for convenience. The single biblical account in Matthew simply presents an event at an unspecified point after Christ's birth in which an unnumbered party of unnamed "wise men" ("μάγοι") visits him in a house ("οἰκίαν"), not a stable, with only "his mother" mentioned as present. The New Revised Standard Version of Matthew 2:1–12 describes the visit of the Magi in this manner:
1. 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
2. Born a King on Bethlehem's plain
Gold I bring, to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign
Repeat Chorus
3. Glorious now behold Him arise
King and God and sacrifice
Alleluia, alleluia
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