The second translation of the Neue Zionsharfe is the Serbian language. It was translated and printed in 1876.
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Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj translated the Neue Zionsharfe into Serbian dialect. He was a famous poet and doctor who lived from 1833 to 1904, and his statue is found in the city of Novi Sad. A Serbian Orthodox, Zmaj is thought to have become a Nazarene convert. It is said he came into great disfavor by the Orthodox Church, presumably because of his translation work on the Zion’s Harp and his association with the Nazarenes. As a result of the Orthodox influence in Zmaj’s life, there was a thread of orthodox theology in the original translation of the Zion’s Harp. For that reason, the second edition published just a few years later, the language was changed. The effort was to remove all traces of Orthodox influence; however, the quality of the lyrics was slightly downgraded. In 1994, 8,000 copies of the Zion’s Harp were printed in the Serbian language for distribution in Europe. The electronic format, editing, and printing were done in Windsor, Canada. The hymnal is used today in Serbia; Akron, Ohio, USA; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Malme, Sweden; and Los Angeles, California, USA. |
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Serbian- Slavonic Dialect
The Serbian translation of the Neue Zionsharfe was printed in the 1990s in a Slavonic dialect. This translation is used to serve the brethren in Croatia.
Serbian- Nazarene Christian Church Edition
In the mid-1990s, the Serbian Nazarene Christian Churches changed the format of the Serbian Zion’s Harp to match the old format. The new printing of an old edition is currently used by the Nazarene Christian (Doroslovac) Churches in Serbia.
