 Bible translating is a rewarding task. Its results are spiritually gratifying. After pouring nearly ten years of arduous labor into producing a New Testament, a translation team is filled with joy unspeakable when they hear about someone receiving Christ as Savior or another fully committing to the Lord through the ministry of that translation.
Yet producing a translation is daunting as well. The translation process is challenging in and of itself. Take our Bible translation consultants, for example. Though their training process may be adjusted according to circumstances and individual needs, in theory they should spend years studying various languages, the science of linguistics, the art and science of translating, and theology. Then they should spend nearly four years on a foreign mission field under the mentorship of a senior consultant before becoming experts themselves. It is expected that translators, stylists, and other members of the translation teams submit to rigid preparation and supervision as well.
Nevertheless, these stringent measures in preparation and production pale in comparison to the spiritual struggles encountered in the process. Let me illustrate. At the beginning of September (’08), looking at the nearly 11 Bibles or Bible portions to be printed in the next year or so, I wrote this about Don Block, BI’s chief editorial coordinator:
If your visit [to BI] should occur now or in the next six months, you probably would find Don inputting all the final corrections for the Falam Chin NT and completing the formatting of the maps, the glossary, the cross-reference system, the introductory notes to each book, the pagination sequence, the text columns, the paragraphs, the section headings, the occasional footnotes, the running heads, etc. Or you might find him doing various but similar tasks with the Chiru, Chakma, and Simte NT's along with the Manipuri Bible for India. If not, you might catch him formatting the Quechua NT for Peru, or the Warao NT for Venezuela, or the Waalii Bible and Dagaare NT for Ghana. Or you might find him interacting by phone or through the Internet with some of our overseas partners in regard to a Bible text that had been sent back to them for final checking after some major formatting process.
But by mid-September, the right-handed Don severed parts of two fingers on his right hand due to an accident involving a table saw and underwent extensive surgery to save his index finger. One week later, Clarissa Barton, who was actively completing literacy materials for a few of our projects in Chad, fell and broke her hip, the second time in little more than a year. A week later, the US government presented the grim picture of the financial situation of the country at a time when BI needs hundreds of thousands of dollars to print Bibles for those who do not have them.
If the challenges involved in translating and distributing the Bible were merely intellectual, we would select exclusively the best Christian minds to accomplish the task. If the challenges were simply a test of endurance, we would select only those with the necessary fortitude. If they were only the vicissitudes of finance, then budgetary forecasting would alleviate it.
Bible translating is actually all of those and even more. It is primarily a spiritual warfare. As Paul the apostle instructed us, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). Yet by God’s grace we must remain steadfast. Don mirrors the spirit of the BI staff amidst that warfare when he said, “If God saw fit to take my fingers, He must have a plan. May He be glorified by it!” A couple days after extensive surgery, in spite of pain, a cast, and bandage, Don was training his left hand on the computer keyboard and mouse, inputting nearly 100 pages of corrections into the Falam Chin NT text.
That same spirit is captured well in a poem written and put to music by Becky Kerr, Briefings editor, in honor of Clarissa Barton. In that poem, Becky prays like this:
Lord, I am willing for you to make me able
To fill the place, to run the race, being
strengthened at your table.
Lord, I am willing for you to make me able
To make my life a sacrifice, to be yours and yours alone.
There was a time when Bible translators paid for their presumed audacity with their lives. Times have changed, but the tactics of the enemy against the availability of the Word of God to the millions who still wait have not. In a word, that is what makes Bible translating daunting … and ultimately rewarding!
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