I live my life in English.
I think, speak, sin, pray and love in English. But despite that, I firmly believe that I need the Bible in Hdi, a language of Cameroon – even though I don’t speak a word of it – and that you do, too. Let me explain why.
It might be tempting for English speakers to think we no longer need Bible translation, or that it would be better to teach people English than to help them translate the Bible into their own languages. After all, English Bible translations have been available since the 16th century, and hundreds are available today.
More likely to follow Jesus
But people are far more likely to follow Jesus when the Bible is available in their own languages: ‘Reading the Scripture in another language is like eating a banana with the skin on,’ a lady from Asia once said. ‘The Scripture in my language is satisfying … like a sweet banana.’ And when people can taste and see that the Lord is good, the effects ripple out.
Actually, when I said I don’t speak a word of Hdi, that’s not quite right, because I do – just one. It’s a word that reveals God’s character more clearly. When I first discovered this story, I learnt the Hdi word for love:
Lee and Tammi Bramlett were serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators alongside the Hdi people. They had found that almost every Hdi verb had forms ending in i, a, and u. But when it came to the word for love, they could only find i and a. Why no u?
Translation committee
Lee asked the Hdi translation committee, which included the most influential leaders in the community: ‘Could you ‘dvi’ your wife?’
‘Yes,’ they said. That would mean that the wife had once been loved, but the love was now gone.
‘Could you ‘dva’ your wife?’ Yes – that kind of love depended on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband.
‘Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?’ Everyone laughed. ‘Of course not! If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu’. It just doesn’t exist.’ Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3.16, and then he asked: ‘Could God ‘dvu’ people?’
Tears
For several minutes, nobody spoke. Then tears began to roll down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded: ‘Do you know what this would mean? This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected his great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.’
God had chosen to reveal something about himself through Hdi. The unconditional nature of his love is baked right into the grammar. It’s not that you can’t express it in English – it’s that you can’t avoid it in Hdi. Every time you talk about God’s love in Hdi, you have to remember that he keeps loving us over and over, millennia after millennia.
Every person
The primary reason for Bible translation is so that every person can come to know the God who speaks their language. But what generosity! Through his word in Hdi, God blesses me, too, with a greater knowledge of his love.
In December 2013, the Hdi New Testament was launched, and now they are translating the Old Testament. But with 1.5 billion people worldwide who still don’t have the whole Bible in their own language, what treasures are still waiting to be uncovered? What bananas are still to be tasted? I for one can’t wait to find out.
