The Bible tells the story of how all humanity once spoke the same language, until the incident at Babel. There, people refused to obey God’s command to disperse and repopulate the world. Instead, they gathered to build a tower to celebrate the pinnacle of their civilisation. In divine punishment, God gave each clan a different language. Humanity became divided, and gave up building the tower. The clans then spread across the earth to develop a multitude of cultures and nations across history.


But that is not the end of the story—for although God scattered the peoples, He had always planned to gather his faithful to Himself. So ever since Jesus Christ ascended into glory, his followers have zealously told the story of forgiveness and reconciliation to anyone who would hear. And whenever necessary, Christians translated, crossing these Babelic ‘language barriers’. It might be said that Christian translators are faithful in more than one way. They are not only interested in the fidelity of their translations to the original, but are also motivated by their faith in God.


As a result, the Bible has been the most translated literary work since records were kept. And some Christian songs too have been preserved across the centuries even while languages evolved, devolved, were mingled or were mangled. Take for example the well-known hymn “Be Thou my vision,” originally written in sixth-century Ireland as “Rop tú mo Baile.” This song also seems to have been a favourite of many missionaries, who arranged lyrics in foreign languages to fit the same traditional tune. Today, we can find no less than fourteen versions.

 

  • *Bahasa Indonesia: Kaulah, ya Tuhan, Surya hidupku
  • *Chinese: 成为我异象
  • *Dutch: Wees Mijn Verlangen
  • French: Qu’en toi je vive, Seigneur bien aimé
  • *German: Steh mir vor Augen
  • Greek: Γίνε όραμα μου Θεέ της καρδίας
  • *Italian: Sii la mia Visione
  • *Korean: 내 맘의 주여 소망 되소서
  • Nepali: होऊ मेरो दर्शन
  • *Polish: On moim Panem
  • *Spanish: Oh Dios, Sé Mi Visión
  • *Thai: โอ้เจ้าแห่งดวงจิต
  • Ukrainian: Будь мені, Боже, метою життя
  • Welsh: Bydd yn Welediad fy nghalon a'm byw
  •  

    *One can actually listen to at least these nine versions on YouTube.

     

    Now I am no missionary myself, but while living in a foreign country and attending a local church, I have experienced the legacies left by missionaries. Soon after arriving in Thailand to study a Master’s degree in Engineering (and practise the foundational Thai language I picked up in Singapore), I joined an old Presbyterian church—I could recognise many of the hymns they sang, only everything was in Thai. As the months passed, I learnt to sing words only religious Thais would use, and I also learnt that the hymnal I held in my hands was a new edition. The older edition had an English counterpart, so that foreigners who did not read Thai could also sing along. But apparently this new one didn’t, and so I offered to put one together. The pastor agreed, and so I began, learning as I went.

     

     

    Top to bottom: Thai hymns corresponding to the English hymn titles “Be Thou my vision,” “There is a fountain,” and “Come Thou fount of every blessing.”

     

    The process was more arduous than I had anticipated. There were a total of 303 entries in the Thai hymnal. I did not find English counterparts for 27 hymns, because they were originally written in Thai or yet another language—I left those in phonetics. As for the other 276 entries, it was not always as simple as copying and pasting the English version: often, not all the English stanzas had been translated, so I chose the ones which most closely matched the Thai. Some Thai stanzas were amalgams of the English ones, and in rare cases a stanza would turn up with no English counterparts. The art of translation is not an exact science, but as a science student, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was acceptable that many translated songs were not exactly faithful to the original. Isn’t unfaithfulness sin?

     

    I frequently observed that when songs are translated into Thai, poetic depth tends to be lost. It is as though multiple shades of meaning and imagery are compressed into 4-bit colour. English idioms and analogies are bluntly expressed in the Thai versions as the explanation itself, as we shall see. Let’s first take a look at “Be Thou my vision,” then a few other examples of hymns which, when translated to Thai, were altered.

     

     

    Be Thou my vision

     

    English version Thai version Reverse translation

    Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

    Naught be all else to me save that Thou art;

    Thou my best thought, by day or by night,

    Waking or sleeping Thy presence my light.

     

    โอเจ้าแห่งดวงจิตเป็นนิมิตของข้าฯ

    ทุกสิ่งไร้ราคาถ้าไม่มีพระองค์

    ทรงดำรงในใจทุกคืนวันมั่นคง

    ตื่นขึ้นหรือนอนลงพระองค์ทรงนำพา

    O lord of my heart, be my vision

    Everything is worthless if without my lord

    Be always in my heart each night and day

    Waking or sleeping my lord leads and guides

    Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word;

    I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord:

    Thou my great Father, I Thy true son,

    Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

     

    เชิญเป็นพระปัญญาพระวาจาดำรง
    ทุกสิ่งมอบพระองค์ทรงเป็นมิตรของข้าฯ
    พระองค์เป็นบิดาข้าฯ นี้คือบุตรา
    ขอรวมดวงวิญญาณของข้าฯ กับพระองค์

    Come be my wisdom and the word always

    Everything is entrusted to the lord my friend

    The lord my father, here am I your son

    Please let my soul be one with my lord

    Riches I heed not or man's empty praise,

    Thou mine inheritance, now and always:

    Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

    High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

     

    อย่าให้ข้าฯ มีใจยินดีในทรัพย์สิน
    ยึดพระองค์อาจิณสุดสิ้นใจกายา
    พระองค์เป็นชีวีบัดนี้และเบื้องหน้า
    เป็นจอมแห่งราชาทรงเป็นสารพัน
    Do not let me rejoice in material things
    I hold on to my lord always and to the end
    My lord is life now and forever
    Is high king and is everything to me

    High King of heaven, my victory won,

    May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!

    Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

    Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

    ทรงเป็นจอมราชันมีชัยนิรันดร
    โปรดอำนวยพรให้ข้าฯ เข้าเมืองสวรรค์
    ให้ดวงใจของข้าฯ และพระองค์ผูกพัน
    เป็นนิมิตสำคัญทรงครอบครองโลกา

    Your majesty is high king with eternal victory

    Please bless me, that I may enter heaven

    Let my heart be one with my lord’s

    Be my important vision, ruler of all earth

     

     

     

    Historically, the lyrics for “Be Thou my Vision” has been modified or rearranged several times as the centuries passed, so it should not be a surprise if the Thai version does not closely match the English. Nonetheless, it may be observed that the Thai version is bland in comparison. In stanza 1, the Lord is referred to as “my light,” but in the Thai version this is translated into a leading and guiding action. In stanza 3, the richer concept of “inheritance” is reduced to something worth holding on to, while God is one’s everything instead of the more specific “treasure". In stanza 4, the phrase addressing God “O bright heaven’s Sun” seems to be replaced by a generic request for blessing.


    This translation, in my opinion, is a little disappointing. The lyrics in Thai, while serviceable, lack the vibrancy of the English version.

     

     

    There is a fountain

     

    English version Thai version Reverse translation

    There is a fountain filled with blood
    drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
    And sinners plunged beneath that flood
    lose all their guilty stains.

     

    ยังมีน้ำพุโลหิตไหลหลาก
    จากองค์อิมมานูเอล
    คนบาปคนใดโดดลงจะเห็น
    ความบาปของตนหายไป

    Yet there’s a fountain of blood overflowing
    From Emmanuel
    Any sinner who jumps in will see
    Their sins disappear

    The dying thief rejoiced to see
    that fountain in his day;
    And there may I, though vile as he,
    wash all my sins away.

     

    โจรนั้นครั้นจวนจะตายได้เห็น
    น้ำพุกระเซ็นทั่วกาย
    แม้ฉันจะชั่วกว่าโจรมากมาย
    บาปฉันก็หลุดเหมือนกัน

    The thief, about to die, did see
    The fount splashing his whole body
    Though I may be much viler than the thief
    My sins will be gone similarly

     

    E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream
    Thy flowing wounds supply,
    Redeeming love has been my theme,
    and shall be till I die.

     

    ตั้งแต่ฉันเห็นโลหิตหลั่งไหล
    จากแผลใหญ่บนกางเขน
    ฉันทราบความรักพระองค์ชัดเจน
    ยังเห็นติดตาจนตาย
    Since I saw the flowing blood
    From the big wound on the cross
    I knew the love of my lord clearly
    Shall see persistently till death

    When this poor lisping, stamm'ring tongue
    Lies silent in the grave:
    Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
    I'll sing Thy pow'r to save.

    โอลิ้นที่พูดไม่คล่องมาก่อน
    ดั่งนอนนิ่งในสุสาน
    จิตยังร้องเพลงเพราะพริ้งกังวาน
    ว่าฤทธิ์พระองค์ช่วยฉัน

    Oh tongue which did not speak skillfully
    As though sleeping silently in the grave
    My mind still sings because of cheer
    About the power of my saving lord

     

     

     

    The translation for this hymn is comparatively good. Even the Thai words used are relatively simple, compared to many other hymns which were translated using difficult or uncommon Thai words. Difficult vocabulary would often appear if the translator was a former Buddhist monk—in Thailand, the monastic class were considered the most learned, but they habitually used royal or religious terms which the commoners would find unfamiliar (much less myself, at my low level of language mastery). However, I do not think they did it because they wanted to exclude the commoners. Rather, this was how they showed ‘proper’ honour and deference to the King of Heaven. I have noticed alternate translations meant for the average Thai to be able to sing comfortably, though the hymnal I worked through had not yet included them in the present edition.


    This issue is similar to how some English hymns sound archaic, because of the use of Old English or uncommon words and phrases. We have already encountered the pronouns “Thou” and “Thy.” Consider also the following hymn. Written in eighteenth-century England, it includes some vocabulary which is rare in modern usage, such as “sonnet,” “fold,” “fetter.” Though I learnt this hymn as a child, I did not understand those words until I was older, and only then did the hymn became more meaningful to me.

     

     

    Come Thou fount of every blessing

    When original songs are tampered with

     

    English version Thai version Reverse translation

    Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
    Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
    Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
    Call for songs of loudest praise.
    Teach me some melodious sonnet,
    Sung by flaming tongues above.
    Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
    Mount of Thy redeeming love

     

    ขอพระพรจากเบื้องบนลงมา
    สู่ใจข้าล้นเหมือนลำธาร
    ของทุกสิ่งที่ข้าฯได้มีอยู่
    พระองค์ทรงเป็นผู้ประทาน
    โมทนาพระคุณพระเยซู
    บทเพลงร้องเชิดชูถวาย
    ข้าฯยืนอยู่บนศิลามั่นคง
    คือพระองค์ผู้รักมากมาย

    May divine blessing from above come
    Overflow my heart like a river
    Everything that I have
    My lord is the giver
    Rejoice in the grace of Jesus
    Offer songs of praise
    I stand on a firm rock
    Which is the lord who loves greatly

    Here I raise my Ebenezer;
    Hither by Thy help I'm come;
    And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
    Safely to arrive at home
    Jesus sought me when a stranger,
    Wandering from the fold of God;
    He, to rescue me from danger,
    Interposed His precious blood

     

    ในอดีตโปรดช่วยให้มีชัย
    ขออาศัยพึ่งทุกวันวาร
    ขอทรงเมตตาพระพรอำนวย
    โปรดทรงช่วยจนสิ้นลมปราณ
    พระเยซูทรงติดตามข้าฯไป
    ห่วงใยเมื่อหลงทางสวรรค์
    พระองค์ทรงเป็นความรักยืนยง
    ทรงไถ่ด้วยโลหิตอัศจรรย์

    In the past you were pleased to give victory
    Let me depend on you every day
    May you be merciful, give blessings
    Please help me until my last breath
    Jesus sought me out
    Caring when I lost heaven’s way
    My lord is love enduring
    He atoned with his miraculous blood

     

    O to grace how great a debtor
    Daily I'm constrained to be!
    Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
    Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
    Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
    Prone to leave the God I love;
    Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
    Seal it for Thy courts above.

     

    โอพระเยซูผู้พลีชีวี
    ข้าฯเป็นหนี้พระองค์มากมาย
    ขอให้พระคุณที่ทรงเมตตา
    ตรึงดวงใจข้าฯจนวันตาย
    พระองค์ทรงรักข้าฯเสมอไป
    แต่ใจข้าฯเผลอลืมพระคุณ
    ทั้งใจกายขอถวายทรงธรรม์
    ดวงชีวันพึ่งพระการุณย์
    O Jesus who offered his life
    I am greatly in debt to my lord
    Let your grace, according to mercy,
    Bind my heart until I die
    My lord loves me forever
    But my heart often forgets his grace
    Both heart and body – I offer
    My existence depends on your goodness
    My versified English rendition Addition in Thai Reverse translation

    Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
    but Thy Lordship we cherish
    Though thine aid we do not merit,
    without Thee we would perish
    Thy love streaming, Thy love streaming,
    only Thou hast power to save
    Mercy brimming, mercy brimming,
    only Thou hast power to save

     

    พระบิดา พระบุตร พระวิญญาณ
    เป็นประธานท่ามกลางปวงชน
    ขอเสด็จเถิดนำหน้าครรไล
    จากอบายพ้นภัยมืดมน
    ขอโปรดเอ็นดู ขอโปรดเอ็นดู
    พระผู้ทรงฤทธาอนันต์
    ขอทรงเมตตา ขอทรงเมตตา
    พระผู้ทรงฤทธาอนันต์

    Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
    Is presiding amongst all people
    Pray come and lead forward
    From woe, passing bleakness
    Please be kindly, please be kindly
    The almighty One
    Please be merciful, please be merciful
    The almighty One

     

     

    As usual, some imagery was lost in translation. The writer of the Thai version also seems to have taken more liberty in changing (or simplifying) many lines, including the very first. Perhaps he did so to facilitate rhyme—unlike many English songs, Thai ones do not have to rhyme (the previous two hymns in translation do not). One notable change was the term “Ebenezer” in the second stanza, which is a biblical word of Hebrew origin (meaning ‘the stone of help’), rendered as “you were pleased to give victory.” The Thai translator may not have considered his congregation to be sufficiently able to grasp the Biblical reference.

     

    I found no English counterpart for the last stanza in the Thai version, so I wrote one. Though, just by reading in Thai, the last stanza stands out because its rhythm and message is very different from the previous stanzas: unlike the original, the addition has repetition; there is also little imagery (such that I chose the words ‘streaming’ and ‘brimming’ to make my rendition a better fit with the original). I suggest that the added stanza was added to teach congregants the key theological concept of the Trinity. Perhaps the author wanted to introduce the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to his flock. This explains why it seems so out of place and, in my opinion, poor song-writing. Despite the apparent unfaithfulness to the original English song, I would have to grudgingly admit that the alterations were probably done out of a faithful desire to praise God. After all, my motivation to write the English rendition was similar—I want English-speakers to be able to praise God in English even as their Thai brethren are doing the same in Thai.

     

    The last song I include is not one found inside the church hymnal, but was presented in church one Sunday. I found it interesting because the original version would never be sung in a conservative church, but after translation, it seems to have become a legitimate hymn.

     

     

    You raise me up

    A song which became more ‘faithful’ after translation

     

    English version Thai version Reverse translation

    When I am down
    and, oh, my soul, so weary;
    When troubles come
    and my heart burdened be;
    Then I am still
    and wait here in the silence,
    Until you come
    and sit awhile with me.

     

    เมื่อข้าอ่อนล้า
    หมดแรงจนเพลียละเหี่ยใจ
    เมื่อความทุกข์ร้อน
    ปัญหารุมเร้ามากมาย
    ข้าสงบใจ
    รอคอยเวลาอันสมควร
    จนพระองค์มา
    ประทับอยู่เคียงข้างกาย

    When [I, servant] am fatigued
    Out of strength, weary and disheartened
    When distressed
    Problems beset in multitude
    [I, servant] am quietened
    As I wait for a suitable time
    Until [you, lord] comes
    And seats beside my body

    You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

    You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;

    I am strong when I am on your shoulders;

    You raise me up to more than I can be.

     

    ทรงชูข้าไว้ ให้ยืนสง่าอย่างมั่นคง

    ทรงยกให้พ้นโพยภัย อันน่าหวาดเกรง

    ข้าเข้มแข็งเพราะพระองค์ทรงอุ้มชูไว้

    ทรงยกข้า เกินที่ตัวข้าจะได้เป็น

    [royal action] raises [me, servant] safely so that I stand elegantly, firmly
    [royal action] lifts me so that I pass peril which is dreadful
    [I, servant] am strong because [you, lord] [royal action] cherish me
    [royal action] lifts [me, servant] to more that [I, servant] can be

     

    *italicised pronouns are absent but implied in the Thai lyrics

     

     

    The inspirational song “You raise me up” was originally by Secret Garden, although the covers by Josh Groban and Westlife popularised it. While the lyrics were written with some Christian influence, it is not distinctly a Christian song because ‘you’ is never identified as God. Instead, ‘you’ is left vague so that one could sing it to parents, mentors, or even significant others. The Thai language has no room for such vagueness, however. Whether referring to the first, second, or third person, Thai uses pronouns which indicate a person’s status. In this translation the word used for “I” is “ข้า,” a formal and respectful pronoun used by someone who is lower in a hierarchy. The word used for “you” is “พระองค์,” a pronoun which translates to “lord,” and the special word “ทรง” is also added in front of some verbs to indicate the majestic origin of the actions. Therefore, in Thai, this is clearly a song intended to convey worship.


    In losing the attribute of vagueness, is the translation less faithful than the original? In gaining a clear expression of piety, is the translation more faithful than the original?

     

     

    Perhaps it is clear by now that the intention of faithful Christian translators was never just to express the exact meaning of a song in another language. After all, their purpose was not to glorify the original author, but to glorify the Creator. So while the translator may greatly esteem the meaning of the original lyrics, even that takes second place to producing a serviceable song for the local church. Of course, translators vary in skill, and some would tolerate a wider margin of difference in their translation than others, yet any changes in meaning must remain within the bounds around the system of belief. Doing otherwise would be truly unfaithful in the Christian context.


    Thus the faithfulness of a translated Christian song is not measured by whether it accurately reflects the original, but whether it accurately reflects the truths revealed in the Bible. And while I have noted many imperfections in the translated hymns above, I must also admit that were there a perfect song, nobody could sing it in perfect faithfulness. For a Christian’s faithfulness in worship is not measured by whether he sings in tune to the song, but whether he lives in tune so that he completely means what he sings. But no Christian on earth lives a perfectly sinless life of faith. Yet I believe that God is merciful, and willing to forgive anyone’s unfaithfulness because of Jesus Christ’s faithfulness—and I think the joy and thankfulness that stems from being forgiven is why Christians sing praise, why Christians write songs, and why Christians translate.

    The author would like to express gratitude to the ajarns from the Thai language programme at the National University of Singapore who taught him Thai, and to acknowledge the new friends in Thailand who have given him opportunities to continue learning and using the language.

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