One Verse at a Time

"How can you make that sentence a bit shorter and less confusing?" "Who is Abijah and how do we make that clear in your translation?" "What does it mean to return someone to God?" These are just a few examples of the many questions I asked the Ikoma translators as we began checking their translation draft of Luke 1 last Friday.

Before we began working together, I had looked at their translation and compared it to various Swahili and English versions and of course the original Greek as well. As I compared their translation, I wrote down any questions or issues that I saw, from sentences that weren't very clear to words that seemed to mean something different from the Greek. Since I am not fluent in Ikoma, the translators had translated Luke 1 back into Swahili, word for word so I could understand the Ikoma translation.

Then we sat down together and went over my questions, verse by verse, coming up with ways to solve the issues. Sometimes it meant changing a sentence around, or using a different word in the sentence. Sometimes it meant deciding to add a picture of the temple into the translation when it's published or adding another phrase to explain that Abijah was a person, not a place.

The work was slow and I thought it might be tedious but in truth it was one of the most fun times I've had at work! I loved helping make God's word more clear, more accurate and hopefully easier for people to understand. There was a sense of satisfaction when we wrestled through an issue. For example, how we can we translate the metaphor 'throne of David' in a language and culture that has no idea of what a throne is or what it represents? There weren't always easy solutions and we'll definitely be looking at some of these issues again, but it was so rewarding to know we had made a verse more clear and accurate.

God's hand was definitely on us that day. It wasn't my insight or wisdom or that of the translator's that caused us to see these issues and how to solve them, but it was God's. I know, because I was sick and tired and was not bursting with ideas. But as we got underway the ideas came, the Swahili words I needed were there and my energy level increased. The only explanation is God.

This is just one step of many to come before we will publish Luke 1 & 2 but it has been a very encouraging and fun step to be a part of.