nahum tate wrote while shepherds watched their flocks by.
nahum tate wrote while shepherds watched their flocks by.
who wrote while shepherds watched their flocks by?
nahum tate
while shepherds watched their flocks









































"while shepherds watched their flocks" is a christmas carol describing the annunciation to the shepherds, with words attributed to irish hymnist, lyricist and england's poet laureate nahum tate.
while shepherds watched their flocks
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the title in the supplement was "song of the angels at the nativity of our blessed saviour", but it has since become known chiefly by its incipit. in tate's original it appeared as "whilst shepherds watched their flocks" (i.e. 'whilst' not 'while'), but most modern hymn books print "while".









































a 19th century version by gottfried w. fink was "while humble shepherds watched their flocks" and other rewritten passages (see illustration). "the hymnal 1982" published in the united states also contained a number of other modernisations, including dropping "hallelujah" as the final line.









































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while shepherds watched their flocks