Lyrics: Karl Gustav Boberg in Swedish, translated into English by Stuart K. Hine and Joseph Bayly.
Music: Swedish folk melody.
Theme:
You have set your glory above the heavens.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:1,3-4
This beloved hymn, popularized by George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows in Billy Graham’s crusades, was translated from a Swedish poem written by Swedish pastor Karl Gustav Boberg in 1885. Karl Boberg wrote of the hymn’s origins:
It was that time of year when everything seemed to be in its richest coloring; the birds were singing in trees and everywhere. It was very warm; a thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and soon thunder and lightning. We had to hurry to shelter. But the storm was soon over and the clear sky appeared.
“When I came home I opened my window toward the sea. There evidently had been a funeral and the bells were playing the tune of ‘When eternity’s clock calling my saved soul to its Sabbath rest.’ That evening, I wrote the song, ‘O Store Gud.'”
The Swedish hymn lyrics were translated into German, then into Russian, and in the early 1930’s British missionary couple Stuart and Edith Hine heard the hymn in Russia, and Stuart began writing down the lyrics and writing new verses of his own, all still in the Russian language. Later, he translated two verses of the Russian version hymn into English and added two verses of his own. Manna Music purchased rights to the song from Hine in 1954 and published it, changing the words “works” and “mighty” in Hine’s original translation to “worlds” and “rolling”.
This is the version of the poem/lyrics that Billy Graham and his team were given in 1954 at Graham’s Harringay Crusade. The song was used in other crusades, but it really became popular when it was used at the Madison Square Garden Billy Graham Crusade in 1957. Here’s the man himself, George Beverly Shea, singing this classic hymn back in 1969.
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Verse 2:
When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:
Verse 3:
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:
Verse 4:
When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
Cecelia: “The music to this combined with the vivid word pictures has always made this a favorite–rolling thunder, power throughout the universe displayed. You just can’t help but think of this hymn and thus God during thunderstorms, and for a little girl (and grown woman) who is afraid of them, it gives such peace.”
Sources:
Veleky Bog: How Great Is Our God by Michael Ireland. Assist News Service.
All About God: How Great Thou Art.
While I rate Boberg’s poem very highly as a hymn, I can’t in good conscience let Manna Music continue to get away with their unchristian profiteering off what amounts to stolen intellectual property. We will be marking the 150th anniversary of Boberg’s birth this Sunday, at our hymn-sing, by singing the E. Gustav Johnson version (see here in Wikipedia); read the Wiberg quote. Manna even goes so far as to allow its licensees to imply that Hine wrote the music, and they have never made any effort either to acknowledge their intellectual indebtedness to Boberg by listing him as author, nor to compensate his heirs and assigns for the use of the material, which is still under copyright in Sweden. They (Manna and Kingsway, the UK holders) ought in my opinion to be highly ashamed of themselves, and failing that, ought to be castigated publicly. Hine did not steal from Boberg by intent, but Manna and Kingsway have made decades of knowing profit off the unintentional theft.
Okay, I’m done ranting. I’m not a lawyer, but it looks smelly to me, no matter how great the song and no matter how much Billy and George and Elvis loved it (and I do too, when I don’t think about it).
Pingback: Reading the Hymns: How Great Thou Art | Mere Orthodoxy