The songs and hymns listed in this page have been translated into the Koine (New Testament Greek dialect and vocabulary) with the intent of helping students internalize their Greek. Where possible, the passages refered to in the song have been consulted in the Greek (both the OT Septuagint and NT) and the vocabulary and phraseology have been kept as close to the original texts as possible.
I hope to add a number of songs as time goes on, and improve the
current translations as time goes on. There are still many
parts of songs I think need to be smoother or am looking for a better word or
word order. If you
have a better translation, song suggestion or other ideas, drop me a note.
Each song will have the following elements:
- The English text
- The Koine Greek text
- Notes on the Greek, why words were or were not chosen, etc.
- Notes about difficulties, and questions I still have.
- Suggestions given by others
- Alternate versions and translations
- Suggestions "Chreia" on how to use the song in a classroom
- Greek Audio in the restored Koine pronunciation
- Audio and Videos of the English version which are publically available
- The Greek text linked to the Perseus LSJ online lexicon (by the Hopperizer utility at Katabiblon.com)
A number of books have been helpful in creating these songs. I recently went through several of Sedgewick's composition books availalbe on textkit.com. His books have great insight (even though they are Attic-based, they apply to Koine Greek).
Complete Songs (perfected)
None yet at that stage. Some are getting close.
Completed Songs with editing remaining
- All Who are Thirsty (Vineyard) (7-21-2009)
- Awesome God (Rick Mullin) with Chreia.
- Breathe* (written by Marie Barnett; sung by Michael W. Smith)
- Draw Me Close to You*
- Emmanuel (Bob McGee) Names of Jesus Medley Songfold 10/2010
mp3 - Forever (Chris Tomlin) (9/7/2009)
- He is Able (Noland/Ferguson) (10/1/09)
- He's Able (Paino / Peterson) (10/2/09)
- He's Got The Whole World in His Hand** mp3 2-7-2010
- He is Lord (unknown/Fettke)(9/30/09
- He Knows My Name "I have a Maker" (Tommy Walker) 10-15-2009
- How Great is Our God (7-17-2009)
- Joy in My Heart!. (7/2009)
- How Majestic is Your Name! (M. W. Smith) Names of Jesus Medley Songfold 10/2010 mp3
- Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin / Jesse Reeves) Names of Jesus Medley Songfold 10/2010 mp3
- Jesus, Name Above All Names (Naida Hearn) Names of Jesus Medley Songfold 10/2010 mp3
- Lord I Lift Your Name on High (9/7/2009)
- Mighty to Save* (Hillsong)
- Never Gonna Stop* by Tommy Walker
- Ode to Brett Farve (Should I Stay or Should I Throw)**
- On Eagle's Wings** mp3 2-7-2010
- Only a Boy Named David** mp3 2-7-2010
- Our God is Greater - Chris Tomlin et. al., Passion 2010 mp3 10/02/2010
- Ten in a Bed** (A child's nursery song) mp3 2-7-2010
- The Famous One (Jesse Reeves and Chris Tomlin) 7-10-2009
- The Revelation Song** mp3 2-7-2010
- Untitled Hymn* (written and sung by Chris Rice)
- Via Dolorosa* (Sandy Patti)
- While I'm Waiting (John Waller) (2-7-2010)
- Worthy is the Lamb (Agnus Dei) (updated 5/26/10) SongFold mp3
- You are Holy (Prince of Peace) (sung by Michael W. Smith) Songfold Greek_Text Mp3
- You are Worthy of My Praise (David Ruis) (5/26/2010) SongFold Mp3
- Zacchaeus (7/2009)
*Web page needs significant updating
**
Text file only / No web page yet
Songs currently under translation
These songs are partially or completely written, but the meter is not yet matched. If you want a copy to improve or play with, drop me a note at louis <at> letsreadgreek <dot> com and I will send you a copy of the current Greek workup.
- The Ants Go Marching (A number song)
- Above All (Michael W. Smith)
- Amazing Grace
- Amazing Love (Billy James Foot)
- As The Deer (Ps 42:1) by Martin Nystrom
- Awesome God
- Come, Now is the time to Worship (Brian Doerksen)
- Everlasting God (Lincoln Brewster)
- Heart of Worship
- Held (Natalie Grant)
- Holy is the Lord (Chris Tomlin)
- Lord Reign in Me
- Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord (Michael W. Smith)
- Revive Us (Robin Mark)
- That's Why We Praise Him (Tommy Walker)
- You are Holy
- The Heart of Worship
- O Be Careful Little Eyes
- The Motions (Going through the Motions)
- If We are His Body
- Made to Worship (Chris Tomlin)
- Imagine (I can only imagine)
- The Days of Elijah
- We Live (SuperChic[k])
Songs on the interest list
- Want one translated, drop me a note.
Credits
Many thanks to Tom Moore at www.katabiblon.com for making the Hopperizer utility possible - I use it frequently to check my forms. Also, thanks to the Perseus project at Tufts University for providing the online LSJ lexicon. Also the Woodhouse English-Greek lexicon of the Attic language available at the University of Chicago has been very helpful and the new implementation of the LSJ lexicon works great for reverse lookups and finding similar words.
How and Why?
I've made it a pastime while singing praise songs to see if I can sing them in Greek, quickly thinking of the Greek words while the rest of the congregation sings in English (I would not recommend this in a small church). You quickly become keenly aware of how slow you are, not only do you have to think of the word, you have to get the form right. After a while, I started writing the songs down and then trying to correct them. I hope to get a number of them posted for all to enjoy, however, translation into Greek is not always easy, there are so many songs about feeling, etc. And getting the syllables and accents to match is hard, and getting the right word - priceless. How indeed would one say in Greek "You say goodbye, I say Hello." (by the Beatles)
On top of being a fun and useful exercise, it also allows me to understand the New Testament better -- I am constantly looking in the back of my USB New Testament at the lexicon, looking at Woodhouse's Attic-English lexicon, searching Perseus' LSJ lexicon reverse lookup, Edwards English-Greek Lexicon (1930) and using the standard NT lexicons of BDAG, Abbott-Smith, (my interest is in Koine). I recently purchased the upgraded BDAG Greek-English lexicon, and also the Logos Orignal Languages Library whcih has the Louw-Nida lexicon of semantic domains (which is great for finding synonyms). I hope to get Lampe's Patristic Greek Lexicon. There are many resources available on the web. Resources for the Greek NT student are so much more available than 20 years ago.
Thanks for stopping by,
Louis Sorenson
