Singing is an excellent way to improve your pronunciation and accent. This reading assignment is to learn the Russian version of We Thank You Jehovah, song number 46 from Sing out Joyfully to Jehovah. Use the links at right to open the Russian songbook and videos. Use the vocabulary below to figure out what the words mean.
The work used to say “thank you” in Russian is “спасибо”. Originally a contraction of “Спаси, Боже!”, “Save, O God!” but now used even when addressing God himself.
чудный—marvelous, miraculous
свет—light
обучать—to be teaching, to be acting as an instructor; обучаешь—thou art teaching us
давать совет—to be giving counsel; даёшь совет—thou art giving us counsel
право—a right
молиться—to pray
просьба—a request
открывать—to open, to reveal
мольба—an entreaty
сын—son
послать (here in the past tense “послал”)—to send
над миром—over the the world. The world is “мир”.
одержать (here in the past tense “одержал”) победу—to seize victory, to take full possession of it
воля—will (in the sense of what someone wants)
открыть (here in the past tense “открыл”)—to open, to reveal
обет—a vow
исполнить—to fulfill, to carry out
сила—power, force
честь—the honor, honor
имя—name
носить—to carry, to bear
всем людям—to all humans
истина—truth, particularly important or exalted truth
говорить—to be talking
скоро—soon
всё горе—all woe
уйти—to depart on foot; уйдёт—he/she/it will depart on foot
царство—a/the kingdom
на веки—for the ages
мир—peace (not to be confused with its homonym “мир” in verse two which means “the world”)
Note: In the video with the children’s chorus the last two lines are slightly different. They sing the version from the 2009 songbook Sing to Jehovah in which We Thank You Jehovah is song number two.