It’s the song that everyone knows, even if they haven't stepped foot in a church in a decade. You know the one. It starts with a quiet, almost tentative observation of the universe and ends with a thunderous, lung-bursting declaration that usually leaves the choir director sweating and the congregation a little misty-eyed.
The lyrics to How Great Thou Art hymn aren't just a set of religious verses; they are a cultural phenomenon. Honestly, it’s kind of wild when you think about it. This isn't some ancient Gregorian chant or a product of the 16th-century Reformation. It’s actually a relatively modern piece of work that took a very long, very strange trip from a rural Swedish countryside to the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.
If you've ever found yourself humming "Then sings my soul," you’re participating in a global tradition that spans languages and continents. But the story behind those words is far more dramatic than just a guy sitting down with a pen and a Bible. It involved a sudden thunderstorm, a translation game of telephone across four languages, and a world-famous evangelist who needed a theme song.
The Swedish Storm That Started It All
Carl Boberg was a 23-year-old preacher’s son in Sweden in 1885. He wasn't trying to write a global hit. He was just walking home.
According to Boberg’s own accounts, he was walking from a church service near Mönsterås back to his house when a sudden, violent summer storm rolled in over the Kalmar Sound. One minute it was peaceful; the next, lightning was ripping through the sky and the wind was howling. Then, just as quickly as it started, the storm broke. A rainbow appeared. The birds started singing again in the woods.
Boberg was so struck by the contrast—the terrifying power of the thunder followed by the "gentle breeze" (as the lyrics later put it)—that he went home and wrote a poem called "O Store Gud."
He didn't even think it was a hymn at first. He just published it in a local newspaper. It was a poem about nature and awe. It’s funny how the most enduring lyrics to How Great Thou Art hymn began as a simple reaction to getting caught in the rain without an umbrella. Boberg eventually set the words to an old Swedish folk melody, and for a few years, it stayed a local favorite in Scandinavia.
A Global Game of Translation Telephone
Most people don't realize that the English version we sing today isn't a direct translation from the Swedish. Not even close.
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The song had to go through a bizarre linguistic journey. First, it was translated from Swedish to Russian by a man named Ivan Prokhanov, who is often called the "Martin Luther of Russia." Then, an English missionary named Stuart Hine heard the Russian version while ministering in the Carpathian Mountains in the 1930s.
Hine is the reason we have the English lyrics to How Great Thou Art hymn that we recognize. He didn't just translate the words; he reimagined them based on his own experiences.
When you sing the second verse about wandering through "rolling worlds" or seeing the "lofty mountain grandeur," you’re actually singing about Hine’s experiences in the mountains of Ukraine. He was inspired by the scenery there and the way the local villagers expressed their faith. He took Boberg’s core idea and expanded it, adding the Christ-centered focus of the third and fourth verses that weren't as prominent in the original Swedish nature poem.
It wasn't until 1949 that Hine finalized the version we use. Think about that. One of the world's most "classic" hymns is actually younger than some people's grandmothers.
Why the Lyrics Actually Work (From a Writer's Perspective)
There is a specific structural reason why this hymn sticks in your brain. It uses a "zoom-out to zoom-in" perspective.
- Verse 1: Look at the stars and the universe (The Big Picture).
- Verse 2: Look at the trees, the birds, and the mountains (The Immediate Environment).
- Verse 3: Look at the sacrifice of Jesus (The Personal Connection).
- Verse 4: Look at the future and the afterlife (The Ultimate Conclusion).
The refrain is where the magic happens, though. Most hymns are pretty steady in their volume. But "How Great Thou Art" demands a crescendo. You can't whisper the chorus. The repetition of "Then sings my soul" acts as a physical release of tension. By the time you get to the second "How great Thou art," you’re usually at the top of your vocal range.
Musically, it’s a power ballad. It has more in common with a 1980s rock anthem than it does with "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." That’s why it resonates across genres. Elvis Presley won a Grammy for his version. Carrie Underwood killed it at the ACM Awards. It’s a song built for big voices and big emotions.
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The George Beverly Shea Factor
If Stuart Hine wrote the English lyrics, George Beverly Shea made them famous.
In the 1950s, Shea was the featured soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades. He stumbled across a leaflet with Hine’s lyrics and started performing it. During the 1957 New York Crusade at Madison Square Garden, the song exploded. The choir sang it nearly 100 times during that one crusade because the people kept asking for it.
It was the "viral hit" of the 1950s. Without the Billy Graham platform, the lyrics to How Great Thou Art hymn might have stayed tucked away in a small missionary songbook. Instead, it became the signature anthem of modern evangelicalism.
Common Misconceptions About the Words
People get the words wrong all the time.
A lot of people think the first line is "When I in awesome wonder." That’s actually the standard English version, but some older hymnals used "O Lord my God."
Another point of confusion is the phrase "rolling worlds." In modern versions, you often hear "all the worlds Thy hands have made." This change happened because "rolling worlds" sounded a bit too much like something out of a sci-fi novel for some mid-century church committees. But the "rolling worlds" version is arguably more poetic—it evokes the idea of planets spinning through space, which fits Boberg's original awe of the cosmos.
There's also a weird debate about the third verse. Some people find the lyrics about "bearing the burden" too heavy for a song about nature. But that’s the pivot point. Without the third verse, it’s just a song about how nice the woods are. With it, it becomes a theological statement.
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The Psychological Impact of Singing These Lyrics
There is actually some cool science behind why singing this specific song feels so good.
Studies on group singing show that when a large group of people sings a song with a wide dynamic range—going from very quiet to very loud—it releases a massive amount of endorphins and oxytocin. "How Great Thou Art" is the king of dynamic range.
The long, sustained notes in the chorus require deep diaphragmatic breathing. This kind of breathing triggers the vagus nerve, which tells your nervous system to calm down. So, while you feel "pumped up" by the loud music, your body is actually entering a state of high-focus relaxation. It’s basically a massive shot of "feel-good" chemicals delivered through a 19th-century Swedish poem.
Actionable Ways to Appreciate the Hymn Today
If you’re a musician, a worship leader, or just someone who likes the history of music, there are a few ways to engage with this piece of history beyond just singing it on Sunday morning.
- Listen to the "Big Three" versions: Check out the George Beverly Shea 1957 recording to hear the "original" fame. Then listen to Elvis Presley’s 1967 version for the soul/gospel influence. Finally, watch Carrie Underwood’s 2011 performance to see how the song handles modern production.
- Compare the translations: Look up the literal translation of Boberg's "O Store Gud." It’s much more focused on the weather and the "thirsting field." It gives you a much better sense of the Swedish landscape that inspired him.
- Check the meter: If you’re a songwriter, study the 11.10.11.10 meter of the verses. It’s an unusual rhythm that creates a slightly galloping feel, which is why the chorus feels so much more grounded and "square" when it hits.
- Explore the Ukrainian connection: Since Stuart Hine wrote much of the lyrics while in the Carpathian Mountains, looking at photos of that region (specifically around the Ivano-Frankivsk area) can give you a visual for what "mountain grandeur" he was actually looking at.
The lyrics to How Great Thou Art hymn aren't going anywhere. They’ve survived world wars, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the rise of digital music. They work because they tap into a universal human experience: that moment when you look at something massive—a storm, a mountain, a galaxy—and feel both incredibly small and incredibly significant at the same time.
Whether you view it through a lens of faith or just as a masterpiece of lyrical structure, it remains one of the most powerful examples of how a single moment of inspiration in the woods can eventually echo around the entire world.