TRANSLATION PROGRESS:
We are finishing up checking Romans, so we are done with the consultant checks for over 85% of the New Testament in three Roma languages (Arli, Gurbet, and Chergash). Another consultant and I only have 1-2 Corinthians and Hebrews to check, and then the NT will be done, and we will move on to the Old Testament!
Not surprisingly, Romans has been one of the more difficult books to translate so far. A well-known verse in Romans 14, for example, can be easily misunderstood when translated too literally. Verse 23, literally translated, says, “But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because not from faith. And everything not from faith is sin.” As always, we must keep in mind the context and flow of Paul’s argument. He has been talking about situations where some believers think it is wrong to eat certain foods, undoubtedly referring to Jews who still feel bound by the OT kosher food laws and Gentiles who do not. So one “who doubts if he eats” is referring to someone who thinks it is wrong to eat a particular food (e.g., pork) but goes ahead and does so against his conviction.
To make these verses clearer for Roma who may not understand the bigger context, we translated this in the Arli Roma language as: “And whoever eats in doubt, condemns himself, because he does not do that about which he is convinced. And all that is not done according to conviction is sin.”
For the Gurbet language we tweaked it even more in order to be clearer: “But the one who is not sure and eats what he thinks he should not eat condemns himself because he did not do what he believed in. If someone does something about which he is not sure whether it is sin, he commits sin.”
It is our hope that these translations flow more smoothly and make the meaning clearer to our future Roma listeners. Please continue to pray for wisdom as the translation teams and I look over and edit the next books (1-2 Corinthians and Hebrews) and that the teams can finish the NT in 2024.
Thank you for your prayers and kind financial support!
Todd & Pamala (Daniel & Ariela) Price
