How long does it take?

How long does it take to complete a New Testament? Well, that depends on what you are trying to do. It took 90 scholars 10 years to translate the NIV. Those scholars were translating the Bible for English speaking people who could read fluently.

Our job has entailed taking a previously unwritten language, reducing it to writing, teaching others to read their own language and then begin translating the New Testament. The concepts of the New Testament are complex and many words that are used in in English such as "justification" or "belief" do not have a lexical equivalent in Mesem. So we worked with the people to find how they expressed these concepts in their language. So the process of translation involves a lot of study and interaction with others to learn how to properly use their words to express God's Word as revealed in the scripture.

I often compare translation to making a snowball (not that anyone makes snowballs in Papua New Guinea but we are from New England where we have plenty of snow). The more snow you have, the easier it is to make a snowball. To make a large snowball you have to start with a small amount and then as you roll it along the ground and gain momentum the snowball becomes increasingly large as there is ever more mass with which to gather more snow. As we now have all of the New Testament drafted, we have more material with which to work. We have used all the word at least once and tried to express all the concepts that are written there. So now we need to go over all that is drafted and revise it: the same words need to be used to express the same concepts throughout the scripture. We need to be sure that people understand what the text means. If people read a passage and don't understand the meaning, then we have failed to translate it correctly.

It's important to remember that the Pharisees did not kill Jesus because they didn't understand what He was saying but because they did understand and didn't want to hear it. As is written in the Book of Jame, "You say you believe in God, you do well. The devil believes also...". We translate the scripture and people have the choice to read and believe, or they might choose to ignore it, or they might be like the Pharisees, understand it but not like what it says. Only God's Spirit can work in people's hearts. Our job is to be faithful in making sure people can hear the message and have a chance to know and hold in their own hands the Words of Life.