Genuine or true, pure or clean? Lost (and found) in translation, installment #10

LOST (& FOUND) IN TRANSLATION
We praise God that we recently finished editing three Roma language translations of the Gospel of Matthew and began Paul’s letter to Titus. (I’m pictured above on Zoom doing a consultant check in Matthew.)

In the first chapter there were several issues we had to wrestle with. For example, in Titus 1:4, Paul says that Titus is his “genuine” son. The draft translation used the Serbian word for “real”, but the translators pointed out that that could only be understood as meaning his biological son, so we had to change it to a Chergash (Roma) word meaning “true” to make it clear that Titus was not Paul’s son in a physical sense. In 1:6-7, Paul says an elder must be “blameless”. This can trip up the reader if he thinks it means “perfect” or “sinless”. We decided to translate it as “a man about whom nothing bad can be said”. 1:15 says “to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled, nothing is clean”, but in Chergash there are no words for “pure” or “defiled” so they used the word “clean” and “dirty”. But to make it clear that this is not talking about people being physically dirty, we adjusted it to “to people clean from sin, all is clean, but to people who are dirty with sin, nothing is clean.”

FAMILY UPDATE
Ariela (11, pictured above) recently performed in a musical showcase at Mighty Roots Academy, enjoyed preparing an Operation Christmas Child shoe box through our local church and is active in her American Heritage Girls club. Daniel (14) helped run sound for the musical showcase and continues to do amazing things with his at-home 3D printer. Kirsten (18, pictured below) lives at home and works locally at the Salvation Army thrift store. Matthew (24, also pictured below) recently made blue belt in Brazilian Jujitsu, an amazing feat to accomplish with one arm!

TRAVELS & HOSTING
Many of you who have prayed for us over the years remember Jeff & Cindy Warner who were our teammates in Bosnia for many years. Cindy and two of the kids (pictured below) recently visited Pam and the kids in KC.

I (Todd) am in Denver, where I have had the privilege of attending annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Institute for Biblical Research and the Society for Biblical Literature as I seek to sharpen my skills in order to do the best job possible in advising and consulting Roma and others to translate God’s Word into their heart languages.

MONEY MATTERS
Thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support that make it possible for us to do Bible translation for Roma in Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. Please consider a year-end gift; how to donate is listed at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

Thank you for your love and partnership in the Gospel,
Todd & Pamala Price (Ariela, Daniel & Kirsten)

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