This was till recently a favorite in the Lutheran churches of Germany.
Like most of the other hymns in this collection, it has often been
translated; as by Schaff in his _Christ in Song_. The oldest text known
is as early as the fourteenth century.
The subject is the birth of Christ. Cf. Matthew 2. 1. Bethlehem:
indeclinable, like most proper names of Hebrew origin. 5, 6. The ox and
ass were believed to have occupied the stable with Christ on the
combined authority of the Septuagint reading of Hahakkuk 3. 2: 'Between
two animals shalt thou be known'; and of Isaiah 1. 3: 'The ox knoweth
his owner, and the ass his master's crib.' quod: that. 7. Reges: Isaiah
60. 3; Psalms 72. 10, 15. Saba: Psalms 72. 10, 15. 11. Sine serpentis
vulnere: without 'original sin.' Cf. Genesis 3. 14, 15; 1 John 3. 5.