Hymns in Translation One

A few weeks ago, I posted a translation of the Welsh Hymn 'Mae Ffrydiau 'Ngorfoledd yn Tarddu,' which had been sung at the end of the Sunday Service and had touched me deeply. Little did I know that this hymn had been translated more than once. As anyone who has ever tried translating anything knows, translation is not a simple matter of rendering the words in another language, especially with poetry. Mr. Geraint Jones, of Heath Christain Bookshop pointed this out, and has supplied me with a number of alternative translations. I intend to present these. The first is the Lewis Edwards translation, with the first verse translated by Edward T Owen. This was, I believe, used at the funeral of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

1. In heav'n at God's bright throne of glory

The streams of our joyfulness spring

For there has ascended the Saviour,

And there intercedeth the King;

The blood which was spinkled up yonder,

Which full satisfaction did give,

Is there by the throne sweetly pleading

That poor guilty sinners may live.

2. And we, from the wilds of the desert,

Shall flee to the land of the blest;

Life's tears shall be changed to rejoicing,

Its labours and toil into rest.

There we shall find refuge eternal,

From sin, from affliction from pain,

And in the sweet love of the Saviour

A joy without end shall attain.

3. From heavenly Jerusalem's towers,

The path through the desert they trace;

And every affliction they suffered

Redounds to the glory of grace;

Their look they cast back on the tempests,

On fears, on grim death and the grave,

Rejoicing that now they're in safety,

Through Him that is mighty to save.