Serbian Anthem
Serbian soldier in WWI during which Serbia lost over third of its entire population and more than half of its male population. The slaughter of Serbs on the same scale was repeated in the Second World War. But heroic Serbia prevailed and, through enormous sacrifices, succeeded in getting rid of each, seemingly many-times more powerful occupier.
God Turns Everything to Good
On September 15, when the new generation of officers of the Serbian Armed forces was promoted in front of the National Parliament in Belgrade, apart from a number of the highest political figures attending the ceremony, one could also have a pleasure to hear fresh graduates sing Serbia’s national anthem (YouTube clip): God of Justice.
After being forced to sing a Polish song to Slavs for five decades of Croat/Slovenian communist dictatorship and sham-brotherhood that turned to be everything but, after surviving two decades of both physical and psychological battering and malignant Sorosiada-abuse, aimed at smearing and perverting Serbian history and instilling shame of their roots, faith and traditions into the young generations of Serbs, by enduring, Serbia has prevailed and earned its right to reclaim its faith, honor and glorious past.
God, indeed, turns everything to good.
God of Justice
God of Justice; Thou who saved us
when in deepest bondage cast,
Hear Thy Serbian children’s voices,
Be our help as in the past.
Serbia gets its royal state insignia back: Guard Officers marching through Belgrade on September 15, 2007.
Serbian army cadets today (YouTube clip).
With Thy mighty hand sustain us,
Still our rugged pathway trace;
God, our hope; protect and cherish
Serbian lands and Serbian race!
Bind in closest links our kindred
Teach the love that will not fail,
May the loathed fiend of discord
Never in our ranks prevail.
Let the golden fruits of union
Our young tree of freedom grace;
God, our Master! guide and prosper
Serbian lands and Serbian race!
Lord! Avert from us Thy vengeance,
Thunder of Thy dreaded ire;
Bless each Serbian town and hamlet,
Mountain, meadow, heart and spire.
When our host goes forth to battle
Death or victory to embrace —
God of armies! be our leader
Strengthen then the Serbian race!
On our sepulcher of ages
Breaks the resurrection morn,
From the slough of direst slavery
Serbia anew is born.
Protect the Serbian fatherland,
the fruit of five centuries of battle,
God save, God protect,
so prays to you, the Serbian people!
For more images from the graduation ceremony, visit photo gallery of the Serbian Army web site.
Comments
Is "Serbian lands and Serbian race!" the official translation? I wish they've used something like "..Serbian kin!", IMHO it's much closer to the original meaning of "srpski rod".
Posted by: Anonymous | October 1, 2007 12:54 AM
It certainly would be much closer to the meaning in the Serbian original (especially since there is no such thing as "Serbian race", nor does that phrase exist among the Serbs), but I assume the translator compromised there in order to convey the rhyme and a bit of the rhythm of Serbian lyrics (matching "race" with "trace", "grace", "embrace")...
Translation used here is from the Wikisource, as offered by Jovan Djordjevic.
Posted by: Svetlana | October 1, 2007 01:35 AM
In the "The Macquarie Thesaurus" amongst other meanings of the term "race" are: "folk, ethnic group, and tribe". Thus the translator did not really compromise the meaning by adapting it to rhyme. I’m impressed by the translator's achievement since it is almost impossible to convey the exact sentiment of the Serbian version into English language.
Posted by: Bozidar | October 3, 2007 02:02 AM
That settles it, then - thank you, Bozidar!
Posted by: Svetlana | October 3, 2007 03:40 PM