When the creation beheld Thee born in a cave,
who hast hung the whole earth in the void above the waters,
It was seized with amazement and cried:
"There is none holy save Thee, O Lord."

Let creation now cast off all things old,
beholding Thee the Creator made a child.
For through thy birth Thou dost shape all things afresh,
making them new once more
and leading them back again to their first beauty.

Let the kings of the whole earth sing rejoicing,
and let the companies of the nations be in exceeding joy.
Mountains and hills and hollows, rivers and seas,
and the whole creation,
magnify the Lord who now is born.

Forefeast of the Nativity
Compline, Canticles 3, 4, 9