Bože pravde | |
English: Lord Give Us Justice |
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National Anthem of | Serbia |
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Lyrics | Jovan Đorđević, 1872 |
Music | Davorin Jenko, 1872 |
Bože pravde (Serbian: Боже правде, English: Lord Give Us Justice[1]) is the official anthem of Serbia. It was written in 1872 with music by Davorin Jenko and lyrics by Jovan Đorđević. Originally it was a piece for the theatre play "Marko kazuje na kome je carstvo" (Marko Names The Emperor), and it's immense popularity with the audiences prompted her adoption as the Serbian national anthem. It was also used as an anthem of Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the period of 1991 to 2006, when it was ruled down by the country's constitutional court.
While being the anthem of the Kingdom of Serbia, it occasionally was referred to as "Serbian National Prayer" and the original lyrics contained a petition for the Serbian king. Various rulers of Serbia were changing words of the anthem to suit them. During the rule of prince Milan I of Serbia, the words were "God, save Prince Milan" (knez Milana Bože spasi), which changed to King Milan when Serbia became a kingdom. Later the anthem was tailored to Peter I of Yugoslavia and Alexander I of Yugoslavia as well.[2]
Republika Srpska retained the old lyrics, while Serbia uses slightly modified lyrics, asserting that it is no longer a monarchy – four verses, marked with 1 and 2 are different. In three, "Serbian king" (srpskog kralja) is changed to "Serbian lands" (srpske zemlje) and in one, "God, save Serbian king" (srpskog kralja Bože spasi) is changed in "God save, God defend" (Bože spasi, Bože brani).
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has voted against the use of the current anthem of Republika Srpska declaring it unconstitutional[3], and the decision was upheld by the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska[4]
Serbian Cyrillic | Serbian Latin | English translation |
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Боже правде, ти што спасе Моћном руком води, брани Сложи српску браћу драгу Нек на српској блиста грани Нек на српско ведро чело Кад наступе борбе дани Из мрачнога сину гроба Отаџбину српску брани |
Bože pravde, ti što spase Moćnom rukom vodi, brani Složi srpsku braću dragu Nek na srpskoj blista grani Nek na srpsko vedro čelo Kad nastupe borbe dani Iz mračnoga sinu groba Otadžbinu srpsku brani |
Note: this is a dynamic, not word-for-word Righteous Lord who hath saved us With Thy mighty hand protect us, Bind in closest links our kindred Let the golden fruits of union Lord! Avert from us Thy vengeance When our host goes forth to battle On our sepulchre of ages T' Serbian home-land Thou shalt nourish, |
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