Hymn Story: How Great Thou Art
(Sam Stack) In 1885 a Swedish minister by the name of Carl Boberg, wrote a poem entitled “O Store Gud.” In English the translation is O Mighty God. The original first verse translated to English: When I the world consider Which Thou has made by Thine almighty Word And how the webb of life Thou wisdom guideth And all creation feedeth at Thy board Then doth my soul burst forth in song of praise Oh, great God, Oh, great God! It is said that Boberg’s inspiration for the poem came about after he was caught outdoors during a summer thunderstorm. This hymn has a very interesting history. Several years after he wrote the poem, Boberg was surprised to find it being sung to an old Swedish folk tune. In 1925, the poem was translated into German. In 1927, it was again translated into Russian. H. K. Hine and his wife were missionaries to the Ukraine in the early 1920’s. It was there they learned the Russian version of the song. They began writing a new English version of the song during their...