Photo by Greg Rakozy
It’s been a while since I chose my own song to review. Lately, I’ve been listening to great hymns, including Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!, All Creatures of our God and King, and yes, How Great Thou Art, thinking through them as I bathe in their Scriptural glory.
How Great Thou Art originated from a Swedish traditional melody and a poem traditionally attributed to Swedish pastor Carl Boberg around the year 1886. With Boberg’s version translated to Russian, English missionary Stuart K. Hine took it upon himself to translate this song from Russian to quasi-Ye Olde English. Adding two stanza’s of his own, Hine published and copyrighted his work in 1949. He later added two optional copyrighted verses in 1953, historically absent from modern publications.
An altered version (Manna Music version; 1955) was popularized during the Billy Graham crusades, chiefly by George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows. It blossomed from there, finding multiple versions, translations, and languages to boot, earning a #2 spot on America’s favorite hymns in a survey by Christianity Today magazine in 2001. The #1 favorite was, you guessed it, John Newton’s Amazing Grace.
For this review, I will be utilizing the most popular and well-known version, containing four verses with a refrain repeated after each verse.
Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.
1. What message does the song communicate?
Boberg’s original lines kick things off with our amazement at the wonder of God’s creation, pointing us to God’s great power. We respond in worship. Hine’s first added verse clarifies any ambiguity that exists within the refrain, strengthening its biblical accuracy and increasing my overall score. He explains the Gospel in just a few short lines, that Christ’s sacrifice takes away sins. Finally, his second addendum summarizes Christ’s second coming, with our eternal praise and humility in response. He weaves together worship with human response into a cohesive whole.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All lines are Biblically sound.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Verse 1]
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works** thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty** thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:
Refers to God as creator, His power and presence manifest in what He has made (Psalm 8:1-9, Psalm 19:1-4, Psalm 66:5, and Romans 1:18-20).
[Refrain]
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
In response to the wonder of God, we worship, singing about “how great Thou art”, or “how great are you”, referring to God’s unfathomable greatness (Psalm 8:1, Psalm 8:9, and Jeremiah 10:6), with rationale towards salvation, described in more detail in Verse 3.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Repeats first two lines.
[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:
Repeats the same concept as Verse 1.
[Verse 3]
And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
You got that right! We cannot fully comprehend the depth of Christ’s death.
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Hine’s explains what Christ came to do: die for our sins (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).
[Verse 4]
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Refers to Christ’s second coming. While not an exhaustive list, Matthew 24:43, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 16:15 are the most commonly cited passages.
Then shall I bow** in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, My God, how great thou art!
Our response to His sacrifice and rescue is surrender, forever praising Him (Nehemiah 9:5, Psalm 30:12, Psalm 52:9, Psalm 86:12, Psalm 89:1, Psalm 115:18, Psalm 145:1-2, Psalm 145:21, and Revelation 5:9-13). This is the part where thunderous applause is common, with hands raised in worship.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Given its global recognition, we have good reason to think that unbelievers will easily identify this as a worship song. The words are easy to comprehend for anyone willing to examine them, despite their Ye Olde English style.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
How great your art is, whatever that is. Oh wait, I already explained that earlier. It magnifies the greatness of God, with explicit explanation of who He is and what He has done.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
What else can I say about Stuart K. Hine’s How Great Thou Art? Its awesome message seeps throughout each line, easily understood by anyone willing to learn and finding Biblical support, all of which brings glory to God. Sing this one at your churches! Oh wait, you probably already have, around 10-15 years ago. Time to dust the old books…
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: How Great Thou Art (listen to Carrie Underwood’s version, it’s the best I have ever heard)
Artist: Stuart K. Hine
Album: N/A
Genre: Hymn
Release Year: 1949 & 1953
Duration: N/A
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright 1949 and 1953 by the Stuart Hine Trust CIO. All rights in the USA its territories and possessions, except print rights, administered by Capitol CMG Publishing. USA, North, Central and South America print rights and all Canadian rights administered by Hope Publishing Company. All other non US Americas rights administered by the Stuart Hine Trust CIO. Rest of the world rights administered by Integrity Music Europe. Words: Stuart Hine. Music: Based on a Swedish folk melody adapted and arranged by Stuart Hine.
**These were changed to “worlds”, “rolling”, and “I shall bow”, respectively, in later renditions.
Updates:
08/06/2021 – After reading and confirming Steve Brown’s comment on altered lyrics, I restored the original words and added a double-asterisk for the current language used today. I also expanded my commentary in Verse 1 to include Psalm 8:2-9.
03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.
Comments
Anna S.
Thank you for this great review, whilst I much appreciate and agree with your work and your seeming dedication to Scriptures and to the Glory of God, your recommendation of Carrie Underwood’s version is completely contradictory… do you no know that the music industry including Country music are covert satanists and are underhandedly bringing literally millions of people to worship the beast rather than the One true Living God ?!
Vince Wright
Anna,
Thank you for your comment!
I just want to make sure I understand what you’re saying. Your point is that because the music industry including Country music are covert satanists and are underhandedly bringing literally millions of people to worship the beast rather than the One true Living God, therefore, Carrie Underwood’s version is inferior to others who sing it. Is that correct or have I misunderstood you?
-Vince Wright
Anna S
Oh my, no not at all ! She really has a great voice and I admit it is very difficult not to listen to secular singers at times, especially in cases such as this. But I think it is important not to encourage nor promote such artists ((which are Legion… pun intended)) whose surreptitious intent is to bring people away from [worshipping] The One true God… much like false prophets, it starts with one truth to reel people in and next thing you know you find yourself knee deep in the devil’s den…
Vince Wright
Anna,
Ok thanks for the correction!
My intent is not to encourage nor promote Carrie Underwood. I happen to like Underwood’s version better than anyone else whom I’ve heard sing it.
-Vince Wright
JR
I like the song and the lyrics but I find the line “my burden gladly bearing” as somewhat unbiblical. In fact, Jesus prayed to the Father that if possible, “let this cup pass from me.” Please don’t get me wrong, Jesus was willing to obey God the Father but that does not mean He “gladly” bore it.
Vince Wright
JR,
Thank you for your comment!
According to Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gladly), Gladly has two basic definitions. One is about happiness. The other is about willingness. I agree with you that Jesus wasn’t happy about it! Pain and suffering aren’t pleasurable experiences. However, He was willing.
There is a sense in which we can say that Jesus is happy. According to Isaiah 53:10, the Father was “pleased” when He crushed Jesus! While this Scripture verse seems unbiblical, it wasn’t crucifixion that brought happiness to God. He was happy because His plan came to fruition: Jesus paid the penalty for our lawbreaking. In this sense, one could argue that Jesus was both willing and happy because His death saves us.
-Vince Wright
Anna S
Oh my, not what I meant not at all ! She really has a great voice and I admit it is very difficult not to listen to secular singers at times, especially in cases such as this. What I am saying is, I think it is important not to encourage nor promote such artists ((which are Legion… pun intended)) whose surreptitious intent is to bring people away from [worshipping] The One true God… much like false prophets, it starts with one truth to reel people in and next thing you know you find yourself knee deep in the devil’s den…
This saddens me and though I pray for them, I refuse to be taken into their deception.
Thank you again for what you do, certainly not an easy task… God bless
P.S. sorry for the technical difficulties, this is my very first time posting a comment on such a platform. Trying too hard to condense in a few lines what would take pages to express!
Steve Brown
I do love this song. You did not spend much time on Psalm eight verses three and six where the Bible uses the word “works” and all popular versions change to the word “worlds”
Since there is only one world I Imagine this was changed years ago to avoid giving ammunition to people who believe our salvation includes our works apart from faith in God, but I think it is OK to acknowledge the greatness of God‘s works, like the Psalmist is doing. When I sing this song I revere God‘s word and I sing it using God’s word “works”
I wish everyone would do that to give glory to God and to back away from the multiple parallel universe theory of creation that takes it out of the hands of the only possible creator of our one world.
Peace of Christ
Vince Wright
Steve,
Thank you for your comments!
That’s interesting. I checked it out, finding that you were correct about altered lyrics. I never knew that the words changed! Thanks for letting me know. There was a third one that wasn’t listed. “Shall I bow” was changed to “I shall bow” in Verse 4, line 3. I updated the lyrics to reflect these changes.
Also, I expanded my Psalm 8:1 reference to includes Verses 2 through 9.
While this alteration might seek to avoid issues with the word “worlds”, as you said, it’s not the original translation by Hine. Nonetheless, I’ll explain why “worlds” is Biblical.
In the KJV, it translates the Koine Greek word “aion” (or aiona) as “worlds” in Hebrews 1:2 and Hebrews 11:3. Other versions translate it as “world”, “universe”, and “ages”. If you look at the original Greek, all of these words are in the plural form (aionon or aionos) denoting more than one “world”, “universe”, or “age”.
“Age” in the plural would be different time periods (e.g.; roaring 1920’s, great depression, WW2, cold war, information age, etc). “world” in the plural could also be seen as different ages (the world my parents lived in in vs. the world I live in today) or different planets in the universe. “Universe” in the plural is the multiverse that you talked about in your response. This is probably not what the author of Hebrews intended.
-Vince Wright
Harold Geern
Could someone explain the line: “consider all the WORLDS thy hands have made. I love the song, but that line has always thrown me off and made it hard for me to worship with this song. It almost seems like a Mormon view that there are a bunch of worlds, but I may just be misreading it.
Vince Wright
Harold,
Great question!
“Worlds” has differing meanings depending on how you define it. See https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/world. It ranges from the earth itself to careers, environments, time periods, a planet (inhabited or not), and the universe itself. The question is, what did “Hine” mean by it? It’s hard to hazard a guess, but I’m willing to give this one a pass. Still, if it irks you, then stop singing this one. There’s plenty of other songs out there!
-Vince Wright