UPDATE: APRIL 2024
Dear friends,
Yesterday was eclipse day in Dallas. Our heavy cloud cover broke up as the eclipse was progressing and we could see it all clearly from our front yard. There is a middle school two blocks away and we could hear the excited students in the school yard. It was a fun break in the middle of the day.
I finished working with the MAT team on Genesis last week. They are now ready to take copies out for testing in various communities. Since then I have been working on notes for the possible key terms workshop in Asia. There are words in the Bible, like glory and grace that give translators lots of trouble. One reason for the trouble is that the words can have different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. For example, in the verses below the same Greek word that we translate as “glory” is used, but it speaks of two different things.
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:9 NIV)
…if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? (1Co 11:15 NIV)
Many of the translators in Asia are quick to borrow words from native languages when they cannot find a single word in their own language that has the same range of meaning as the Greek words. What I hope to accomplish with the notes is to provide the translators with tools to help them see where those Greek words are used in different ways, and to give them suggestions how they can best translate the meaning of those words in their context, or point them to translations that have done that well. I would certainly appreciate your prayers for wisdom in this undertaking, and also that I can get good feedback from Asian speaking colleagues.
Plans:
– finish the check of Psalms 31-90 with the ROW team
– possible travel to Asia for checking and a “key terms” workshop
Note: If you would like specific details on the upcoming activities, please feel free to ask. Because some of our colleagues are in sensitive areas, we need to be careful what we say publicly. Thank you for your understanding.
May the Lord bless you and fill you with His peace!
John