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During the first week of April, while studying and preparing the first draft of the book of Hebrews for translating into the Manjui language, we finally came to chapter 11.  We all love this portion of Scriptures, especially the first three verses.  These verses set the stage for the remainder of the chapter with their beautiful definition of faith.  This passage is a constant reminder to us that because of our trust in God, we are convinced that He is in control even when we don’t see the outcome of things. 

However, with regards to translating these thoughts on faith into the Manjui language, we have come face-to-face with a real challenge.  Just verse one alone contains some words that have caused us to really stop and think.  From some of the English versions we find these words; “faith,” “confidence,” “substance,” “assurance,” “evidence,” and “hope.”  But the Manjui language has no comparable nouns for any of these words!  So how do we communicate what the author of Hebrews was talking about in a language that uses almost no abstract nouns?  That is the challenge!

We began looking for some action phrases for many of these words that still retain the original meaning as close as possible.  Also, in thinking about the grammar, since we needed action phrases, we also realized we needed to state an actor who is doing the action, and an object for each phrase.

So, with the words “faith” and “confidence” we would like to try two ideas in Manjui that mean “he will not doubt God” and “he will believe him.”  Also for the words “hope,” “confidence,” and “assurance” we would like to try a phrase in Manjui that means something like, “He is looking forward to but knowing in self already that it is true,” and also the phrase, “He indeed knows it already.”

At this point we have only done a provisional draft of this portion of Hebrews chapter 11 which is ready to go over with our translation helper.  When we get together with him, he will correct what we have and give us the proper forms and the words needed and will let us know if certain ideas will fly.

If we translate the actual text back into English of what we have right now, verse one  sounds something like this:  “That man who doesn’t doubt God but instead truly believes in him, indeed he knows it will be given him what he is looking forward to and knows already in himself that it is true.  Even though he hasn’t seen yet (those things) that he has been told about, he still really believes.”

We know that the final rendering of this passage will be much better when we are able to run it by the translation helper.  And even after that it will have to be re-checked and modified through the various checks with other helpers.  So, we really appreciate your prayers as we work through translating this difficult book of Hebrews into the Manjui.

As the book of 2 Corinthians takes shape in the Manjui language, we are seeing how God has already prepared the language for some of the difficult concepts and figures of speech found in this book.  We mentioned a couple of months ago that we would post some of these solutions as we’ve worked through them with our Manjui translation helpers, so below are some of the more difficult passages we mentioned and how they will possibly be rendered in this difficult language.

In 2 Corinthians 1.3-6 Paul referred to God as “the God of all comfort.” We had thought that this concept would be hard to get across, but when we worked this through with our primary translation helper, we found that they were already using a one-word expression that covers this part of God’s nature very well.  Our helper said, “Oh yes, we would say God is a Tika’peiliski’.”  He told us that this word would be used for someone one who habitually feels mercy for others and pities them greatly and helps them.  He said that this describes God very well.  So here within the small group of Manjui believers, we know that they will really understand this part of God’s character when they read 2 Corinthians.  Isn’t it great that God also speaks Manjui? We serve a great God!   The rest of the passage here was then fairly easy to develop by saying the following, “…As God helps us with our “heavies,” so we are to help others in the same way.” We are looking forward now to seeing the believers teach this principle as they read this passage and apply it to their daily lives.

We also mentioned another difficult passage that is found in chapter 2, verses 14-16, where Paul used the figure of speech of the message about Christ being like a fragrance that spreads over the whole world.  We weren’t sure if we could use this figure of speech at all, since the Manjui don’t use perfume.  But we found that the illustration of a good odor wafting out wasn’t a foreign idea at all.  What would possibly come up in their imagination was the odor of cooking meat or the smell of flowers blooming, rather than perfume, but that is okay.  “This is really a good illustration of what God’s message does,” our translation helper told us.

Another passage where we expected some interesting discussion on is found in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 6-7.  We hadn’t mentioned this one earlier, but Paul used some good picture words to get across his ideas.  We were wondering here if we would be able to keep the picture words, or if we would have to just translate the ideas behind them.  In verse 6 Paul said that the glory and power of God and the message about Christ are a wonderful light that God has caused to shine in our hearts.  When our translation helper understood the concept, he was able to give us a fairly close idea with it being like “God turning on a light inside of us” when He caused us to know about Christ.

Then in verse 7 We also have the picture word of what God has done for us likened to a wonderful treasure that we have inside of us, but that we are just clay pots holding this treasure.  Our translation helper also gave some very clear explanations as well on these two illustrations.  We were able to retain the ideas as similes by saying, “All that God has caused us to know is like something very good, expensive, and valuable…” “…but we are just weak people who are like containers made of dirt with this wonderful thing inside of us.” We praise the Lord that we have some very good helpers and that the Holy Spirit helps them to understand some difficult passages as we work through them.  Please continue to pray for us as we will now be working through content and comprehension checking of this difficult book in the next couple of months.

In doing the primary exegetical studies of the first 3 chapters of 2 Corinthians we’ve come across some passages that are really difficult to carry over into Manjui.  They are listed here in this entry blog as examples, and as a request to pray for us as we work with the Manjui translation helpers to get good, clear Manjui ideas for them.  In the next blog entry we will try to list what the Manjui helpers have come up with after working with them.  So, stay tuned…

In 2 Cor. 1.3-6 – Paul talked about God “comforting” us and we in turn would “comfort” others because of what God does for us.  In English we fairly well understand this concept but we don’t have the idea yet well defined in Manjui, possibly because of their culture.  In the Manjui world view before becoming believers, their idea was, “I” am the center of my world.  Why would I want to help anyone else to be happy, to feel good, when it’s all about “me?” The idea of caring for, and of helping another brother is foreign and needs to be taught.  What better place than from this passage, after we have this one translated correctly.

In 2 Cor. 2.14-16 – Paul used the figure of speech of the message of the Gospel being a “fragrance,” a sweet smell that spreads throughout the world.  Then he carries this idea further with the believers being an “aroma” as well.  In English we can understand these metaphors somewhat, but what about when we try and explain them in the Manjui language?

In 2 Cor. 3.2-3 – Paul used the figure of speech of the Corinthian believers as being a “letter of recommendation” for others to read.  We as English speakers know what a letter of reference or one of recommendation would look like because many of us have had to write one for someone entering a new work or college.  Most of us also know what a resume is for a person trying to introduce themselves in a business world.  So, for us this may be somewhat simple to understand.  But what about a people who recently come out from living in the jungle and still hunt for deer and pig, and had never even seen paper until we came along as foreigners?  This one is going to take a bit of explaining.

Also in 2 Cor. 3.3 Paul extended the idea of this letter by saying that it was written in their hearts.  Again, we have a difficulty here because the Manjui only see their heart as a blood pump.  Part of this is already solved however.  The Manjui use the idea of a person’s “insides” to explain where their emotions are.  But to say that the Corinthian believers were “written there” is going to take quite a bit of explanation.  I can’t wait to sit down with my translation helper on this one.

In 2 Cor. 3.12-16 Paul used a figure of speech of a “veil” to explain what still covered the hearts of unbelievers so they could not understand truth.  Though this one may not be as hard by explaining the meaning of the metaphor, we will have to give a lot of background information in the passage to make it clear.

So, please pray with us as we accurately communicate each idiom, each figure of speech, and each idea in this book.  God will help us as we come up with some good ways to say these things in Manjui.

     The book of Colossians is now ready for it’s final consultant check, so during the remaining weeks of August and into September we will be going through the process of content and comprehension checking of 1, 2, and 3 John while waiting for our consultant checker.   While working in these books, a very challenging difference in language patterns has once again come up.  In 1 John 4:8 John makes this statement, “…God is love.”  This is a clear concept for us to understand in English, because we use abstract nouns and metaphors in our language.  However, in the Manjui language this is more of a problem.  Love is an abstract concept that cannot be communicated with a noun.  The Manjui are literalists and everything abstract such as love, hate, kindness, peace, etc. are all said with verbal expressions.  We always have to change these abstract concepts into verbal ones when translating into Manjui.  We are asking for your continued prayers as we translate.  We need God’s wisdom as we translate the Word of God into the Manjui language.

During the months of June and July we will be doing various translation checks of the drafting of book of Colossians.  This involves using Manjui translation helpers that will either listen to or read the passages out loud and respond to questions that Gordie has prepared.  In this way we will check the comprehension of the passage.  When a helper doesn’t give a good response to the questions asked, or he doesn’t seem to understand the passage as we think it should be, we can usually conclude that there are corrections needed.  Each comprehension check improves the draft.  We will also do what we call a content check this month.  This check will involve Jamie, since he speaks the Manjui language well.  He will read the Manjui draft and compare the text to a fairly formal English translation, looking for things that are missing in the Manjui draft or where too much unnecessary comment is added.  

Pray for us as we work on the checking of this very important book of the New Testament.