Let My People Go, also sung as Go Down Moses, is an African-American spiritual. By origin it is not a Jewish song. But its words carry the story at the very heart of Judaism: the Exodus, when Moses is sent to Pharaoh with the cry let my people go, and the Jewish people are led out of slavery in Egypt. That is why so many Jewish artists sing it as one of their own.
Because the song belongs to the Jewish story, RIGLI brought it into Russian, and Olga Anikina wrote a beautiful translation and adaptation. In her version the call rings out to a whole people to rise and go, onward, toward freedom and toward home.
An English RIGLI version is planned next, with the words adapted so the song becomes fully our own. This is part of the mission of Jewish Songs for All: to carry the songs that tell the Jewish story to the world, in the languages people actually speak.
The words, line by line
Russian (Olga Anikina)English, line by line
Ты пойдёшь в Египет МозесYou will go to Egypt, Moses
Людям моим вернутьTo bring back to my people
Слово БожьеThe word of God
В путь народ мой в путьOnward, my people, onward
Взгляни убоги и бедныLook, they are wretched and poor
В путь народ мой в путьOnward, my people, onward
Живут Израиля сыныThere live the sons of Israel
В путь народ мой в путьOnward, my people, onward
Выйди к ним и говориGo out to them and speak
В путь народ мой в путьOnward, my people, onward
И пусть поймут тебя цариAnd may the kings understand you
В путь народ мой в путьOnward, my people, onward
А если царь вам скажет нетAnd if the king says no to you
В путь народ мой в путьOnward, my people, onward
Пусть ждёт смертей и страшных бедLet deaths and terrible troubles await him
В путь народ мой в путьOnward, my people, onward
Russian adaptation by Olga Anikina, from the spiritual Let My People Go. The English below is a literal, line by line rendering of her Russian for meaning, not a singing version.
Credits & rights
PerformerRiglis Band
Musicафроамериканский спиричуэл (аранжировка - Владимир Кин)