God is so good

Martyn Payne

On your marks:

Some simple songs of worship are sung all around the Christian world and translate easily into the local language. One such song is the children's chorus ‘God is so good’ (for the music see Junior Praise No 53).

What follows are the words for the first verse of this song in various languages from different parts of the Christian world. As part of a focus on the Christian faith worldwide, different groups could learn and perform these verses. Each group could hold some symbol, flag or piece of craft from the appropriate country, to add colour and depth to the presentation.

Get set:

There are simple actions that often accompany the words. These are usually:

• God both hands with extended index fingers pointing upwards
• good thumbs up on both hands
• to me point back to yourself with both hands

Go!

Here are the various translations:

Swahili: Mungu ni mwema ( x3 ), ni mwema wangu

French: Mon Dieu est si bon ( x3 ), Il est bon vers moi

Sudanese: Ngun a lo'but ( x3 ), lepeng nyanyar nan

German: Mein Gott ist so gut ( x3 ), er ist gut zu mir

Kirundi: (Burundi) Yemw' l-mana ( x3 ), yacu ni nzi-za

Urdu: (Pakistan) Khudawand bhala hai ( x3 ), bhala hai Yesu

Russian: Bog tak veleek ( x3 ), ohn menyah lyubeet

Rukiga: (S.W. Uganda) Ruhanga ni murungi ( x3 ), ni murungi wangye

Romanian: Domnul este bun ( x3 ), este bun pentru noi

Kinyarwanda: (Rwanda) Imana ni nzi-za ( x3 ), ni nzi-za cya-ne

English: God is so good ( x3 ), he is so good to me

Japanese: Shu wa su-ba-ra-shii ( x3 ),Wa-ta-shi no Shu

Tamil: Jesu Nallavar ( x3 ), Nallavar Yenakku ( to you = nallavar unakku) (to us = nallavar namakku )

Nigeria : (Yoruba) Oluwa dara ( x3 ), dara fun mi

Spanish: Dios es bueno (x3 ), es bueno para mi

Pidgin: (Papua New Guinea) God I gut pela ( x3 ), God I gut long mi

Nepal: Ishwar asal chan ( x3 ), malai dyya gharchan

Sudan: (Arabic) Rabuna kweis ( x3 ), Bihibu ana