Gospel for Christmas: First Translated Scripture

After watching a neighbouring language community work for 14 years to complete a translated New Testament, the Isenye people are now joyfully on that same journey for themselves. But by doing a translation adapted from their neighbour’s, they have already published Matthew’s Gospel (their first Scripture), and hope to print their own New Testament in just 3-4 more years…

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Safwa New Testament launch celebration was marked by great unity and joy

Among the Safwa people of western Tanzania, at least six dialects are spoken. From serious conflict and suspicion in the translation project’s earliest days, many years of prayer and hard work has delivered a complete New Testament the community sees as very inclusive and easy for all to understand – and celebration dominated by a powerful sense of unity and joy…

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New Testament completed for half a million Bena speakers

“It feels so good to see change and hope in our people!” Joshua, a local pastor and married father of five, is one of the Bena speakers who worked for years to translate the New Testament in his own language. He and his colleagues have now completed that work, begun 18 years earlier, and they are excited to be part of the big celebration…

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Faith grows among Nyiha speakers even as they celebrate recently translated New Testament

“Scripture teaches we should love each other — that’s how this is happening!” Alongside a dusty dirt road lined with small shops, hundreds of Nyiha spent a day loudly celebrating a huge milestone in their history. “I once thought God only speaks the ‘big’ languages,” said a translator. “But now I know he speaks to all people in their own languages. From today, all Nyiha people can grow in understanding God’s Word…”

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Kabwa New Testament gets vibrant celebration, strong distribution

“What joy, to see our community use and understand God’s Word for themselves!” Morning rain storms may have kept some away, but a determined crowd packed the small village church for hours of singing, dancing, ceremonies and feasting to mark the completion of the New Testament translated in the Kabwa language…

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New Testament arrives for the Ikoma people of Tanzania

On the edge of the Serengeti, threats of rain could not keep away the crowd as the Ikoma community celebrated completion of a 14-year work to translate the New Testament in their own language. Speeches and preaching, dancing and singing went on for hours. “Even the new songs were in Ikoma!” one guest cheered. A colleague of the translation team added, “This day greatly encourages me that all our labour has not been in vain”…

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Jesus is God and Man – but Not a Pumpkin!

As the Rangi people of central Tanzania work to complete the New Testament in their own language very soon, the labor of extensive “final checks” proves to hold both significant challenges and unexpected rewards. Even while the community held a read-through of the whole NT, Rangi Translators struggled to include important updates and corrections. So they trained one of their Literacy workers to help – and she quickly found something they had all missed…

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Old calendar leads traveler to new translated Scripture

After a bus journey of hundreds of miles and several days, Batila was home. She speaks Pangwa, and in her family’s village she saw a calendar filled with writing in her language. “Are there books in Pangwa?” she asked. Soon she was reading Mark’s Gospel, and buying copies to share with her family on both sides of the country…

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Safwa community tastes God’s Word, wants more

From their first small portions of translated Scripture, a language community can quickly learn to engage with God’s Word. For the Safwa people of Tanzania, their completed New Testament is being printed soon. Especially now, teams of local Scripture Engagement (SE) workers can be very impactful and busy…

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Community engagement sparks three new translation projects

Several language groups in Tanzania will launch New Testament translation projects this year. Others have completed New Testaments in their hands (or final publication stages), and now they hope to locally own and manage an Old Testament project. In response, SIL Tanzania has launched the “Remaining Languages Project”…

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