Perspectives Notes - L10: How Shall They Hear
How Shall They Hear – Jim Zvara (3/31/14)
Notes by Lana
How shall they hear?
· You can’t steer a ship that is not moving
· The Biblical Perspectives – Matt 28:18-20 – It wasn’t a last min plan, but it has always been the heart of God since the OT
· If people don’t have God’s word in their language, how can they hear?
Uzbeks:
· Uzbeks: 29 million
· Majority in Tashkent & Bishkek
· Muslim by culture & heritage
· Challenges: cultural pressures & a lack of religious freedom
· 8th largest group in the world without a translated Bible
Bible Translation
· Contextualizing God’s Word – communicate the message, not dispensing it! It must be meaningful to the responders! Heart language of the people!!
· For all languages
· Progress of Scripture Translation:
a) Prior to 1818: 100 languages
b) Since 1818: 1893 languages (“Explosion of Bible translation!”)
· The greatest missionary in the world is the Bible in the mother tongue – William Cameron Townsend (Founder, Wycliffe Bible Translators, 1934) – William’s experience in Guatemala – an elderly man asked him: “If your God is so great, why doesn’t HE speak MY language?”
Some Facts:
· Total: 1967 languages
· Americas: 81
· Africa: 790
· Europe: 76
· Asia: 616
· Pacific: 404
· 1967 languages with probable need of Bible translation (includes languages without a written form)
· 2798 languages with some or all of the Bible
· 518 have an adequate Bible
· 1275 have an adequate NT
· 1005 have Scripture portions
Quiz:
1. The bible was originally written in 3 languages – True!! Greek, Hebrew & Aramaic (Different from Islam, who believes that Classical Arabic is the holy language)
2. The NT was written in classical Greek. It was meant for academics & scholars, & not for the common people – False!
- “Holy Ghost” Greek? Nope, it’s koine Greek (Common Greek)! The teaching of the testaments was aimed at the common people; therefore, they used the language that was understood by them!
- Neh 8:8 – They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear & giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read
- God is transcendent, but He is also Emmanuel!
3. Other languages use sounds, which we don’t have in English: True!
- 3000+ proper nouns
- Sound & syllable patterns (especially names!! It’s important that they don’t sound foreign!)
4. There are some languages which have no grammatical system – False (Their grammatical system has just not been studied)
- Tanishganimdan hursandman – Tani-sh-gan-im-dan hursand-man! (nice to meet you!)
- Rev 1:1-2 – The revelation of JC, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw – that is, the word of God & the testimony of JC (Uzbeks: only one word for He=She=It; also no adjacents)
- Rev 5:6a - Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures & the elders (translated into “the lamb is standing BEFORE the throne, in the middle of a circle surrounded by the 4 living creatures)
- Rev 13:8 (17:8) – All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the book of life, the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world (Refer Rev 17:8)
5. For every word in English there is an equivalent word in all other languages – False!
- Walmatjarri, a language of Australia, has no word for “but” (or “except” or “unless”)
- Jesus said “….No one comes to the Father but by me” – John 14:6 (use “only through”)
- How do you know whether it is a good translation: One of the key step is comprehension testing – get someone who has not read the text before, you read out loud together & get a dialogue going – asking them to tell you what they understand from the text (8-10 people)
6. Literal translations best communicate the meaning of the source language – False
Form & Meaning
· Rev 3:20 – Here I am! I stand at the door & knock. If anyone hears my voice & opens the door, I will come in & eat with that person, & they with me
US | Africa | New Guinea | |
Meaning | Seeking entrance | Seeking entrance | Seeking entrance |
Form | Knock | Call | Cough |
Dealing with Figurative Speech
· Psalm 24:3-4 “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands & pure heart.”
· Problem: many people groups believe that clean hands belong to lazy people!
· Important fact: Figurative speech usually does not transfer from one language to another without serious distortion of the meaning. The Bible uses figures of speech often. This is one reason why many minority groups are unable to identify with & understand it!
· Rev 22:15 - Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters & everyone who loves & practices falsehood. (In the Uzbek languages – it just means literally DOG)
7. Translators should have an intimate understanding of the language & culture of the people for whom they translate – True!
Example of translations (Same words, different meanings)
· A dangerous toy. This toy is being made for the extreme priority of the good looks. The little part which suffocates when the sharp part, which gets hurt is swallowed is contained generously
· John 3:16 – educated native speaker of Ziga for the Jesus Film: “God wanted to possess the earth so much that he sent his only son so that whoever was deceived by him would not perish but would become a wandering ghost”
· In ziga cultural background:
a) Zealous for land ownership – “God wanted to possess the earth”
b) Relatives often used as go-betweens – “sent his only son”
c) Tricks & scams very common – “whoever was deceived by him”
d) Peoples who die become ghosts, those who are die a horrible death will wander forever – “would not perish…..wandering ghost”
· Luke 23:48 – “When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts / chest and went away” (Important to understand the meaning of the words culturally!)
a) Jew: remorse, sorrow’
b) Western: he-man
c) Mezquital (Mexico)
d) Angerl Boken (PNG): Victory
· Songs of Songs 4:1-2 – How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing (Uzbeks: For them, sheep are black, goats are white – Solution: switch the words “goats & sheep”) – Prototype theory: cultural mismatch – right word, wrong idea!
· Mic 1:8 – For this I will lament & wail; I will go barefoot & naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, & mourning like the ostriches(Uzbek: you mourn like a young camel – Solution: don’t use “ostriches, but young camel”)
· Psalm 23:5 – You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head (That’s how you treat the guest of honor) with oil my cup overflows (Uzbeks: “rubbing oil on my head & that is a gesture of honor”) (My cup overflows – wine; for the Uzbeks: you fill the teapots half full so that they can have opportunities to refill it; but change the word cup to bowl – overflow with food!)
8. It would be best to teach everyone to read English or the country’s trade languages so that they can read the English translation without reinventing the wheel - False
Quotes:
· “In my country the English languages is widely known & used. But when a young man wants to say to his sweetheart, I love you, he says it in the local dialect, not in English, because it is his soul speaking to her soul” ~ Philippines Evangelist
· The reason for God by Tim Keller 2008 (Pg. 41-42)
· “The Bible itself is now clearly out of control in many parts of the World – Wycliffe Bible Translators are right: once people get the Bible in their own languages you can readily expect that there will be an explosive growth!” ~ Ralph Winter
Isaiah 55:10-11 - As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Scripture Engagement: Contextualizing & the Delivery
· Huge challenge: making scriptures available
- Scriptures in electronic format
a) “Holy Book” Bible program
b) GoBible for mobile phones (dumb phones!) (www.ibt.org.ru)
· Global Media End of 2012 (www.tomiahonen.com) – Population: 7:18 billion – Mobile: 7:18 billion
· Apps: And Bible, Pocket Sword etc
- Videos – eg. Lost sheep (culturally appropriate)
- Storying – tell stories & ask them for feedback – you will also get to understand what is going through their mind
Tips on Bible Translation:
- Find the book which is technically easier to translate
- In Central Asia: they love proverbs – first book
- Muslim world: start with the OT (eg. Life of David & Sam / life of prophets)
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