Tomorrow I will be speaking for a few minutes at the Roma Global Symposium webinar. You can see and/or read my talk here.

The Importance and Process of Roma Bible Translation

The Importance of Bible Translation

It is estimated that there are about 90 languages spoken by Roma in Europe and Eurasia, of which only a dozen have any portion of the Bible translated. Of these, only a few have the entire Bible translated, which means that the other languages have only the New Testament or perhaps one of the Gospels or some Bible stories. So today, there is still a great need to get the Bible translated into many more Roma languages.

Bible translation is vital since each person needs to understand what God has said in His Word, and yet not everyone currently has access to the Bible in the language that they know best, which speaks to them with clarity, and which impacts both their minds and hearts.

Let me illustrate: If someone were to read to you directly from the Greek New Testament or Hebrew Old Testament, you might not understand any of it.

Now, if someone were to translate that same verse into English but were to follow the same word order and structure of the Greek or Hebrew original, you would understand more, but it still might not be clear to you what the author was seeking to communicate.

Listen to the difference in the following translations of Luke 7:28-30. The first translation uses older English and follows the form and structure of the Greek, while the second one seeks to make the message clear in natural English. The first translation gives only what is explicitly stated in Greek. In contrast, the second one adds some of the implied information which first-century Jews would have intuitively understood and spells it out more clearly for people like us and like modern-day Roma, who would not know this information:

Luke 7:28-30 (Young’s Literal Translation): 28 “for I say to you, a greater prophet, among those born of women, than John the Baptist there is not; but the least in the reign of God is greater than he.” 29 And all the people having heard, and the tax-gatherers, declared God righteous, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees, and the lawyers, the counsel of God did put away for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

Now see if this other translation makes the meaning more clear:

Luke 7:28-30 (New Living Translation): 28 “I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!” 29 When they heard this, all the people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right, for they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.

(To read the rest of the article, which describes The process of Bible translation, go here).