NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

We have been taking a class lately called Semantics – Bible Translating.  We have been asked before why we translate the Bible into the native or heart language of a people group and not just in the trade language so more could read it from other language groups.  Way back in the day, when God spoke to and through the prophets and those who wrote down God’s word for the first time, did he not speak in their language; one which they would understand every tone change to get the exact meaning that the Lord was trying to convey to His people?  Of course, and when the Bible was translated into English, it was translated in such a way that the meaning as well as word use would be the same to those new readers as to the ones that knew the original language.  As the English language has changed over the years, so have Bible translations, to keep up with the times in such a way that the original meaning of Scripture can still be understood by current readers.  (Now there are some that are closer to the original meaning than others that may be over idiomatic or too literal, trying to keep the words the same yet not bringing the meaning with them as this changes when we cross language barriors).  People understand best in their native or heart language.  This is not to say you wont understand in another, but never as well, unless you learned two at the same time and used both to an equal extent.

We have been learning methods and tools to better elp us to make a faithful Bible translation into the language group that we will one day be working with.  Our goal, in the words of Beekman in Translating the Word of God is to make a “translation that is so rich in vocabulary, so idiomatic in phrase, so correct in construction, so smooth in flow of thought, so clear in meaning, and so elegant in style, that it does not appear to be a translation at all, and yet, at the same time faithfully transmits the messageof the original”.  God’s word provides us with a foundation so that we can grow and spread His good news. 

Let us not take the Word of God so lightly and for granted but enjoy God’s communication to us through it each day!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 12:30 pm and is filed under News Article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.