Translating Scripture:
an ancient and continuing process

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia —The broad popularity of Bible study groups in Ethiopia and, in churches of all denominations of choirs singing contemporary Bible-based songs (see related feature) is especially important now, says Dr Loren Bliese, UBS Translation Consultant based in Ethiopia.

Dr Bliese also notes that the entire Christian tradition is one of translation: putting God’s Word into the language of the people so they don’t have to learn a ‘special’ language for God to speak to them.

“The Bible is 2,000 years of God’s revelation, recording the experiences of hundreds of people interacting with God over thousands of years. “Even at the time of Ezra, who flourished around 480 BC, the law was read in Hebrew but the priests translated it into Aramaic for the people,” he recalls. “Later the Jews translated the Old Testament into Greek, as the Septuagint. And as early as the second century, Christians translated the New Testament into Latin and Syrian.