The Famous One     Ὁ Εὔφημος    

The Greek text is still in the process of being fully matched to meter, along with addding optional lines, etc. Many resources I hope to link to are not yet listed. If you have any comments, suggestions, send me a note at louis <at> letsreadgreek <dot>  com.

This song is a very popular modern praise song, written by Jesse Reeves and Chris Tomlin. Chris Tomlin sings it. Choosing the correct Greek word for 'Famous' is more difficult than one would think. Many of the words for 'famous' are only used in context of the Oddessy or Iliad or in literature which refers to those books. Choosing the right word, "Priceless." Some of the words for 'famous, well-reknown' are as follows (links are to the Perseus LSJ lexicon):

 
ἀγλαός
ἀριπρεπής
ἐπικλεής
ἐπιφανής - Αντιοχας Επιφανης
ευδόκιμος
εὔφημος
μεγακλεής
πολυφημός
περίφημος
περικλυτός
προφανής
ὀνομαστός
φαμιστός / φημιστός Not found in Perseus' LSJ ; Dor. for φημιστός 'famous' (Harvard's LSJ lists φαμιστός)
φατός

 

English Text and Links

The Famous One

Chorus:
You are the Lord
The famous one
The famous one
Great is your name
In all the earth
The heavens declare
You're glorious, glorious
Great is your fame
Beyond the earth

Stanza 1:
And for all you've done
And yet to do
With every breath
I'm praising you
Desire of nations
And every heart
You alone are God
You alone are God

Stanza 2:
The morning star
Is shining through
And every eye
Is watching you
Revealed by nature
And miracles
You are beautiful
You are beautiful

 

The sequence for singing: Chorus 2x, Stanza 1, Chorus 1x, Stanza 2, Chorus 1x.

 

Scriptural References

Psalm 62:6 (Symmachus)

Psalm 75:2 Γνωστὸς ἐν τῇ Ιουδαίᾳ ὁ θεός, ἐν τῷ Ισραηλ μέγα τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ.

Philippians 4:8 Τὸ λοιπόν, ἀδελφοί, ὅσα ἐστὶν ἀληθῆ, ὅσα σεμνά, ὅσα δίκαια, ὅσα ἁγνά, ὅσα προσφιλῆ, ὅσα εὔφημα, εἴ τις ἀρετὴ καὶ εἴ τις ἔπαινος, ταῦτα λογίζεσθε·

 

 

BDAG   εὔφημος, ον (s. prec. entry; Aeschyl. et al. in var. mngs.; ins; Sym. Ps 62:6; Philo; Jos., C. Ap. 2, 248) the basic idea: ‘pert. to what is being said with cautious reserve’ (in deference to the transcendent or out of respect for those of high status, words ought to be carefully chosen, for one might utter someth. that is unlucky; s. the reff. in L-S-J-M under the various terms in the εὐφημ-family), in a transf. sense praiseworthy, commendable, ὅσα εὔφημα Phil 4:8 (M. Ant. 6, 18; Dibelius, Hdb. ad loc.; CClassen, WienerStud 107/108, ’94/95, 329; for the formulation s. ὅσος 2).—M-M.

ἐπιφανής, ές (s. ἐπιφ-entries; Pind., Hdt.+; ins, pap, LXX, Philo; Jos., Ant. 4, 200 al.; Just. A I, 68, 3 [superl.]) pert. to being resplendent, splendid, glorious, remarkable, prob. suggesting light whose impact is esp. striking in its sudden appearance, of the day of God’s judgment (Mélanges GGlotz ’32, 290, 28: ins [II b.c.] ἡμέραι ἐ.) ἡμέρα κυρίου μεγάλη καὶ ἐ. Ac 2:20 (Jo 3:4).—New Docs 4, 148. M-M. TW. Spicq.

εὐκλεής, ές, gen. οῦς (s. next entry; Hom. et al.; Wsd 3:15; Jer 31:17; Philo; Jos., Bell. 4, 250, Ant. 19, 240) pert. to being generally well-spoken of, famous, renowned (w. σεμνός) κανὼν τῆς παραδόσεως renowned standard given us by tradition 1 Cl 7:2.—DELG s.v. κλέος.

 

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature. "Based on Walter Bauer's Griechisch-deutsches Wr̲terbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frhchristlichen [sic] Literatur, sixth edition, ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichmann and on previous English editions by W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and F.W. Danker." (3rd ed.) (407). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.


Koine Greek Adaptation

Ο ΕΥΦΗΜΟΣ

(χορός)
1 σὺ Κύριος εἶ,1
2 ὁ Εὔφημος, Εὔφημος,2
3 μέγα τὸ3 ὄνομά σου
4 ἐν πάσῃ4 γῇ.
5 οὐρανοὶ5 βοῶσι
6 εὔδοξος, σὺ εῖ6 εὔδοξος,
7 μεγάλη7 σὴς φημὴ
8 πέραν8 καὶ γῆς.

9 ὑπὲρ ὧν ἔδρησας9
10 δρᾶν τε μέλλεις10
11 πάντῳ πνεύματι11
12 σὲ ἐπαινῶ.12
13 τὸ καρδιᾶς ἑκάστης
14 ἐθνῶν τε θέλημα,13
15 μόνος εἶ θεός
16 μόνος εἶ θεός14     

17 ἀστέρα πρωϊνὸν
18 διαφαίνοντα,15
19 καὶ πᾶς ὀφθαλμός
20 σέ θεωρεῖ.
21 φύσι καὶ16 δυνάμει
22 φανέρωθέντα
23 ὡραῖος σὺ εῖ,17
24 ὡραῖος σὺ εἶ.

Notes:

1: Alternate word order: σὺ εἶ Κύριος

2. Word Choice: See the word list above for reasons why Εὔφημος was chosen.

3. ΟR μέ--γα σὸν ὄνομα = μέγα ἐστιν τὸ ὄνομα σου

4. OR ἐν τῇ γῇ

5. Optional Reading: οἱ οὐρανοί

6. Optional quick insert: σὺ εἶ 'you are'

7. μεγάλη (>μέγας) = (=μεγάλη ἐστιν ἡ φημή σου) The verb 'to be' εἰμί is implied. Hold the accented syllable of μεγάλη for a beat.

8. This was a difficult line to match the meter. 'Beyond' is πέρα / πέραν which is followed by the genitive. However the word πέραν is accented on the antepenult, but should be accented on the ultima in the rhythm. Ι ended up accepting the accenting as if the word were περάν. The options are

  1. Ignore the accent and hold the αν syllable (which is what I have selected)
  2. Choose a different word or meaing, e.g. πάσῃ τῇ γῇ
  3. Make the object of πέραν come before the word, e.g. τῆς γῆς πέραν; this is an option which occurs frequently in Homer for many prepositions.

9. This line is very quick in English, therefore I chose the word δράω 'to do'. I originally had the line as ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ἃ πεποίηκας.

10. δρᾶν τε μέλλεις10. μέλλω can take the present or even more often the future infinitive. I chose the present infinitive of δράω because it had fewer syllables than ποίησαι; although ποίειν would have worked, I used δρᾶν because of the τε which I needed because of the rhythm. Ι played with this line, also considering κἔτι μέλλων ποίειν. I was not sure of the use of ἔτι with μέλλω - I could not find any extant examples of ἔτι μέλλω.

11. πάντῳ πνεύματι11. This line could read πάντῳ πνεύματί μου as the final ι in πνεύματι is held two beats.

12. σὲ ἐπαινῶ.12 The future, ἐπαινέσω could also be used here.

13. τὸ καρδιᾶς ἑκάστης | 14 ἐθνῶν τε θέλημα,13 This was a very hard phrase to match the rhythm and meaning. Perhaps I am pushing the use of τε in the second line. All other options seemed to have the accent of θέλημα on the wrong syllable.

14. μόνος εἶ θεός. The English version has 'you are God alone' which is ambiguous. If one wanted to say 'You are the only God, one would say σὺ εἶ ὁ μόνος θεός.

15. 17 ἀστέρα πρωϊνὸν |18 διαφαίνοντα. An alternate reading could be to take these two lines as a separate sentence, not as an accusative corresponding to σε in line 20. 17 ἀστὴρ πρωϊνὸς | 18 διαφαίνεις. The imagery is beautiful.

16. The accent on δυνάμει is on the alpha. The plural would be δυνάμασι, for which I could find no extant examples, so I stayed with the singular. τε καὶ could be used instead of just καὶ by itself.

17. 23 ὡραῖος σὺ εῖ, | 24 ὡραῖος σὺ εἶ.  An alternate reading could be 23 σὺ εἶ καλός | 24 σὺ εἶ ὡς καλός. The position of the accents is important.

 

 

Chreia Αdaptations

This is a song of nominatives, genitives, datives and accusatives. It contains elipses of the verb εἰμί.

Use in Greek Pedagogy