On Sunday, I preached from Nehemiah 8:1-12, showing how this passage illustrates the need for Bible translation and also a proper response to God’s Word. Several principles stood out to me:
1. The people had a commendable attitude and made proper preparation for God’s Word.
2. They had a deep reverence for God’s Word.
3. Their situation illustrates the need for translation of God’s Word.
4. The people showed a proper response to God’s Word.
In vv. 7-8, it gives a list of names of certain Levites and says that they: “7 ... helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”
When Ezra read from the Law, he was reading it in its original language, Hebrew, but not all the people understood Hebrew anymore. Many of the Jews who were there on that day had grown up in Babylon, where the language was not Hebrew, but Aramaic.
In order to make sure the people could understand it, the Levites explained it to them. They may have translated it into Aramaic. Or they may have explained the meaning of the text so the people could understand the meaning.
That is the point of Bible translation. We want to make sure that all people understand what God’s Word means. In the same way that Ezra and the Levites wanted to make sure that the people not only heard God’s Word, but that they also understood it. That’s why we do Bible translation.
So how are we, the Body of Christ, doing regarding progress with Bible translation? How many languages are there in the world and which ones still need Bible translation? Let me show you three infographics from Wycliffe Global Alliance.
