What does it mean to have God’s Word in a language you can understand?

Discovery Trip 2008 - South East Asia

Lives change when people meet Jesus. That is one of the most significant purposes of Bible translation. The translated Word of God is key to introducing people of other languages and cultures to the One and only true Savior—Jesus Christ. In Christ we find our freedom and our new identity.

Here are just a few of the many responses to receiving the translated Word of God:

In South America, a Quechua Bible translator of Peru said, “Getting our spiritual food from the Spanish Bible is like trying to eat soup with a fork. We can get a little taste, but cannot get nourished. Using the Quechua Scriptures is like eating soup with a spoon—we can really get well-nourished.”

In Africa, Dereje Tilahun, currently a Scripture use worker, shared his desire to see the Bible made available to all the peoples of Ethiopia. Dereje said, “There are more than 80 languages in Ethiopia, and only 8 have the [whole] Bible!…We have to bring the Bible in their own language. When it is in their mother tongue, they can understand it. They can love it.” An Ethiopian himself, Dereje greatly values the Bible in his own language, Amharic. “The Bible is my life,” he said. “I cannot live without the Bible.”

A new reader in a minority group in Asia told her friend, “When we read the Bible in our language for the first time in our lives, it made us feel so encouraged that there is nothing to compare it to. Since we were small children until now—in our whole lives—we have never seen our language written down. But now we can read the Bible in our language, and read stories in our language and sing praises to God in our language.”

• Praise God for the refuge found in His eternal Word! Lives are spiritually transformed as a result of understanding God’s Word in a language that speaks to the heart!
• Seek after Jesus today—taste His Words—and know that the Living Word is spreading, even now, to the ends of the earth. Praise Him, the author of our faith!

Go deeper! Below are several links to stories featured in Wycliffe’s Give Freedom Campaign that highlight people who have found freedom as a result of knowing God through the translated Word.

Marcelina had been exploited all her life…

Simon’s wife and daughter were raped by militia…

Pugong was terrified the evil spirits would kill him…

Mukasa John drank too much and beat his wife Saliima mercilessly…

Resource: Wycliffe Pray Today Blog