How Great Thou Art
One of the 94 hymns we sing together at Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church on the Gold Coast. Browse the full hymnbook.
Lyrics
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 rolling thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout
The universe displayed!
Chorus
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 thru 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 shout of acclamation
And take me home,
What joy shall fill my hear
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim,
My God, how great Thou art!
Behind the Hymn
"How Great Thou Art" began as a Swedish poem called "O Store Gud" written by Carl Gustav Boberg in 1885 after he witnessed a powerful thunderstorm near Kronobäck, Sweden, followed by a sudden calm and birdsong. Boberg was a 25-year-old editor, poet, and member of the Swedish parliament who was also a lay preacher. The poem was later set to a Swedish folk melody and eventually translated into German and then Russian. English missionary Stuart K. Hine discovered the Russian version while working in Ukraine in the 1930s and was inspired to create the English translation, adding original verses based on his own experiences in the Carpathian Mountains. The hymn gained worldwide fame when George Beverly Shea and a massive choir performed it at Billy Graham's 1957 New York Crusade in Madison Square Garden — it was sung nearly one hundred times during the sixteen-week crusade. It has been voted the most popular hymn in both Britain and America in multiple surveys and remains one of the most recognizable Christian songs in the world.