A team of local believers, along with Wycliffe Associates, has translated the New Testament. “They have endured persecution, and struggled to teach the Word in other languages.”
A group of women in a refugee camp. / Getty
A group of mother-tongue Bible translators in a Southeast Asia village, has completed the New Testament in their language, a first since missionaries initially shared the gospel with the village in 1834.
The native believers have never had any of the Bible in their own language. Instead, they have used Scriptures in other languages for 182 years.
TRANSLATED IN TWO WEEKS
The Christian association Wycliffe Associates equipped a team of local believers to translate the Scriptures for themselves, with the help of the Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation (MAST) program, and in just two weeks, they translated 18 books of the New Testament into their language.
The translators work in teams, drafting verses concurrently during the mornings and using a five-step process to check the verses in the afternoons and evenings. Translation experts have confirmed the quality and accuracy of the work.
The names of the village and the translators were not revealed for security reasons.
Local believers can read the New Testament in their own language now.
ALWAYS PERSECUTED
“They have endured persecution. They have struggled to teach the Scriptures to their young people in other languages. They have been told for generations they have to keep waiting until Westerners can translate the Bible for them”, explains Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates.
The translators plan to complete the first draft of the entire Bible by the end of the year, translating the Old Testament.
They are one of 14 people groups, representing 17 million people, who have never seen God’s Word in their language.
3,300 TRANSLATIONS NEED TO BEGIN
“In my 30 years of work in international missions, I have often heard there will be a day when the local church takes its place, when the old-fashioned missionary model is no longer the only way. This is that day”, says Smith.
More than 2,000 translations are in progress worldwide. Wycliffe Associates estimates that more than 3,300 translations still need to begin.
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