Translation:
Lord bless Africa
May her glory be lifted high,
Hear our petitions,
Lord bless us, us your children.

Lord we ask You to protect our nation,
Intervene and end all conflicts and sufferings,
Protect us, protect our nation,
Our nation of Africa.

From the blue of our heavens,
From the depths of our seas,
Over our everlasting mountains,
Where the echoing crags give answer,

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

• The "National Anthem of South Africa" is a masterclass in musical reconciliation, famously blending five of the country's eleven official languages (Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and English) into a single, seamless football stadium anthem. During international matches, fans deliver an emotionally charged performance by locking arms with neighbors across row lines, creating a unified human chain throughout the stands. The absolute peak of stadium volume occurs midway through during the transition into the Sesotho section at the line "Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso" (Lord, we ask You to protect our nation), where the entire stadium swells into a booming, rich harmonic choir. A fantastic piece of history behind this anthem is that it is actually a hybrid of two entirely separate songs; in 1997, under the guidance of President Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid liberation hymn Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was merged directly with the previous apartheid-era anthem Die Stem van Suid-Afrika to visually and musically symbolize the birth of a unified "Rainbow Nation."