This song was written in 1931 and has come to be one of the most popular Christmas songs in Norway. If you go to a Christmas concert, you are almost guaranteed to hear some arrangement of this one.

Det Lyser i Stille Grender

Det lyser i stille grender
av tindrande ljos i kveld,
og tusunde barnehender
mot himmelen ljosa held.

Og glade med song dei helsar
sin broder i himmelhall
som kom og vart heimsens frelsar
som barn i ein vesal stall.

Han låg der med høy til pute,
og gret på si ringe seng,
med englane song der ute
på Betlehems aude eng.

Der song dei for fyrste gongen,
ved natt over Davids by,
den evige himmelsongen
som alltid er ung og ny.

Den songen som atter tonar
med jubel kvar julenatt,
um barnet, Guds son og sonar
som myrkret for evigt batt.

There is Light in Quiet Villages

There is light in quiet villages
from bright candles tonight
and thousands of children’s hands
hold the lights to the heavens

And with happy songs they praise
their brother in the heavenly halls
who came to be the Savior of the world
as a child in a small stable

He laid there with hay for a pillow
and cried in his lowly bed
while angels sang outside
in the desolate meadows of Bethlehem

There they sang for the first time
at night over David’s city
the eternal heavenly song
always young and new

That song which again sounds
with praise every Christmas night
about the child, God’s son, our Saviour
who forever bound the darkness