Whenever we translate the Bible, there are five principles or five goals that we try to keep in mind. When we translate, what we translated must be:
Clear: we want the reader or listener to understand the meaning of the passage.
Accurate: we must be faithful to the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic original and communicate correctly what the verse says, without changing, adding to, or leaving out anything.
Natural: we want to use language which sounds normal to the listener, and not stilted or awkward.
Acceptable: we want to use terms that are appropriate for public reading in church.
*Stylistically/Rhetorically equivalent: we want the translation to impact today’s listeners in the same way it impacted the original audience. We want it to have the same force from a persuasive and emotive standpoint and reflect a style equivalent to the style of the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic original.
All five of these principles are important. Unfortunately, sometimes they compete with each other. It is very challenging to meet all five goals in every phrase, so when it is not possible to do that in the language into which we are translating, we sometimes must emphasize one or more of these principles over the others. I think you will see what I mean as we discuss specific verses in future installments on this blog.
(*Not all Bible translators see this as a legitimate or realistic goal in Bible translation.)
We’ve heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But don’t forget Giving Tuesday, which is November 30–it’s a day to give back and to focus on sharing with others.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support for us and the ministry of Bible translation.
If you would like to donate, please use the Donate button at the top or bottom of this page to donate online, or the mailing address at the bottom of the page to give by check. Thank you so much. We are so very grateful for your partnership in the Gospel!
I’ve been working via Zoom with Zoki and Stanoja in Croatia to edit and make corrections to 50 chronological Bible stories in the Ludari language. We recently finished checking story 43 and will be working this week to finish up checking through story 50. In the picture below you can see the Ludari text that we work through together online. Pictured on the screen is the story of Jesus’ crucifixion.
In the Gurbet language, Goran is drafting the first translation ever of Ruth, Jonah and Esther. (Pictured below is his granddaughter reading Luke 18:16 in the Gurbet language.) In the Arli language, the translators are beginning their studies for a Diploma in Bible Translation, the first step of which is translating the class notes for students from English into Serbian.
Ariela’s dance club held a wonderful performance at a local nursing home in Kansas City. They performed several dance routines, samples of music throughout American history, and she did a great job (see pictures below).
We had fun eating Serbian food, listening to Serbian music and watching folk dancing at a Serbian festival at the Serbian Orthodox church in Kansas City last week (see pictures above and below).
I (Todd) visited my mom, Geri Price, at her nursing home in Oklahoma City. We had a nice visit and she enjoyed reading the Thanksgiving card and the artwork from the kids.
Please keep the following in prayer:
Please pray for the remaining $1,200 per month we need in financial pledges in order to be at 100% of our needed pledges.
Please pray for Ludari translator, Zoki’s, one and a half year-old daughter who will undergo a hernia operation on Thursday.
Praise God for providing the needed translators for the Arli language. It looks like we may have the translators we need for the Gurbet language; please pray that those details will work out soon.
Please pray that everything goes well for closing on a house purchase in Belton, MO, next month.
Pray for Pamala as she heads to Cross Roads, TX, this weekend with Ariela and Daniel. Pam and her sisters will be packing their mom’s residence and we will be moving her to Belton, MO. Moving is always a huge task; please pray for grace and strength for all involved and good time efficiency in packing and disposing of her mom’s things.
Thank you so much for being there for us in prayer!
Thank you all so much for praying. On Monday, Matthew got his long awaited prosthetic arm. It has been almost 22 months since his motorcycle accident, and 19 months since we started the process of working to get a prosthetic. The prosthestic arm is fiberglass, partially powered by battery and partial powered by body movement. It will probably be the first in a series of interim or trial prosthetics as he gets used to it and needed adjustments are made.
Very early in the morning on Wednesday, Matthew left for the 12-hour drive to his new apartment in Atlanta. The family was a big help packing everything into his truck. It was bittersweet, as we will miss having Matthew living with us, but are so thankful and proud of him that he is moving out on his own again. We’re thankful for his best friend from childhood and his family who live in Atlanta, who will be a great support system for Matthew, and are excited for him as he launches out to live in his own apartment. He is working freelance from home as a UX Designer; please pray he can find work in Atlanta to work in an office alongside other designers.
We are doing well as a family. Here are some pictures as an update. We had fun having Timothy over to celebrate his 31st birthday!
The stray cat we adopted had three darling kittens. (We are looking for homes for them if you are interested!)
Ariela performed in “On Broadway: A Musical Review” with her home school co-op, and did a great job!
Ariela and Pamala packed a couple shoeboxes with gifts for Samaritan’s Purse’s Operation Christmas Child for our church.
Daniel volunteers to help run the sound booth at our church on Sunday mornings. He and a friend recently purchased a 3D printer, and he amazes us with the models he can print out with it. And it’s just in time to print Christmas gifts. And speaking of Christmas, it’s never too early to do holiday baking, which Pam and Ariela love to do!
Since we moved back to the States, we have been renting a house in Independence, MO, but God has been so gracious and generous and has enabled us to put in an offer to buy a house in Belton, MO. Lord willing, we will close on the house and take possession the week before Christmas. Thank you for praying and we praise God for this huge answer to prayer.
We’re so grateful for a house of our own. It will allow us to live close to and help take care of Pam’s 91-year old mom, Barbie Hughes, whom we are helping to move from Dallas, TX, to Belton, MO, next month. My (Todd’s) mom is in a nursing home in Oklahoma City, and I will continue driving down to visit her there. Now that my role in the Bible translation project has adjusted to that of Bible translation consultant, I can carry out this full-time role from the States since all the work is done remotely with shared software and the meetings are done remotely over Zoom or Skype. I can take trips back to Croatia and Serbia as the need arises.
We are currently testing out and editing the drafts of the Gospel of Luke and the 50 chronological Bible stories in the 5th language, Ludari, which is the language spoken where we used to live in Croatia. We have a deadline to finish, print and record Luke and the 50 stories by the end of January. Please pray for me, Sergej, Stanoja and Zoki as we work toward this goal, for good progress and for clear and accurate translations.
I’m also checking and editing the draft of the Gospel of Matthew in all five Roma languages (Arli, Bayash, Chergash, Gurbet, and Ludari). Please pray for the Spirit’s guidance and strength to give wise advice and to help the Roma translators make the best possible translation of Matthew in these five languages.
Thank you for your prayers and for your continued generous financial support which makes it possible for us to do this ministry.
“Listen to Your servant’s prayer and his petition, LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant prays before You” (2 Chr. 6:19 CSB)
Download this prayer list formatted as a calendar for printing out:
November 1 Pray for God’s will for a closing date on a house in Belton, MO, we’ve made an offer on; pray for His provision of long-term housing for us
November 2 Pray for God’s will to be done through today’s elections
November 3 Pray for Pam’s mom, 91, packing to move from Dallas, TX, to Belton, MO, to be close to Pam’s sister, Kim, and us
November 4 Pray for new jobs for Timothy & Matthew, & wisdom for Jonathan deciding between grad school & a new job
November 5 Pray for each of our children to know and love Jesus, and walk with him every day
November 6 Pray for Kirsten to finish her A.A. at Calvary University by next summer, for life application of the Scriptures, & for wisdom for next steps after school
November 7 Pray that many Roma will read the printed copies of Luke & our Bible stories which we distributed in Croatia & Serbia
November 8 Pray for our Roma partners & churches in Croatia & Serbia to wisely distribute the remaining copies of Luke & Bible stories we gave them
November 9 Today is Timothy’s 31st birthday! Pray for a year of peace & joy in the Lord, freedom from fear & close community with friends
November 10 Pray for Bible translator, Nedeljko, to be able to receive two kidney transplants as soon as possible
November 11 Pray for wisdom for Pierre as he plans the next phase of our Bible translation in the 5 Roma languages
November 12 Pray God will provide 1 or 2 more qualified translators for the Arli language Bible translation
November 13 Praise God that Ariela can be in singing, acting & dancing performances in her home school coop program & her dance class
November 14 Pray for teammates, Andy & Lim, in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, to be encouraged & to see God working in the Roma community
November 15 Pray for Sergej, Zoki & Stanoja as they continue to check, test, & edit Luke in the Ludari language, for an accurate & clear translation
November 16 Pray for 2 qualified translators for the next phase of translation into the Ludari language (after we finish Luke & 50 Bible stories)
November 17 Pray for Pierre & The Seed Company for wisdom preparing the budget for the next phase of Bible translations in the Roma languages
November 18 Pray God will provide 1 or 2 more qualified translators for the Gurbet language Bible translation
November 19 Pray for Pierre & our colleagues to wisely choose translators & set up new teams for the rest of the Bible translation work
November 20 Pray that many Roma will listen to and read Luke & our Bible stories through our websites, YouTube and social media posts
November 21 Pray for encouragement for Pastor Darko & his wife in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, the city where we used to live & where our teammates attend
November 22 Pray God will provide 2 or 3 qualified translators for the Bayash language Bible translation
November 23 Pray we can make good progress to finish Luke & 50 Bible stories in the Ludari language by end of January 2022
November 24 Pray for good health for both our moms & for Pam’s mom to get her house packed to be ready to move to Kansas City in December
November 25 Happy Thanksgiving! Praise God for His goodness & faithfulness which gives us security in changing times.
November 26 Pray God will provide 2 or 3 qualified Bible translators for the Chergash language
November 27 Pray for funding to pay for more Bible translation work in each of the 5 Roma languages
November 28 Pray for teammates, Sergej & Željka, in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, teaching the Scriptures to Roma & working on Bible translation
November 29 Pray for safe travels for Pam & her sisters traveling to Dallas to help their mom move
November 30 Praise God that Todd’s sister’s hand is getting better after developing hand palsy
FAMILY UPDATE: In October we enjoyed the cooler Fall weather, as you can see from the pictures below:
ABOVE AND BELOW: Ariela (10) and Daniel (13) love doing tricks & flips on the trampoline in our backyardOur niece, Priscilla, from Dallas visiting with Pam & KimDaniel enjoyed a survival day camp out with friendsThe family attended a Slavic Festival (see the Croatia flag to the right) right here in Sugar Creek, near our home in Independence, MO. (Croats, Serbs & Bosnians are Slavic peoples.)Experiencing the American cultural evening of a visit to a pumpkin patch. The kids had fun on this outing with cousins & fellow home schoolers.Ariela & Pamala celebrating some of the last of the nice weather with a tea party on our front porchCelebrating Elizabeth’s half marathon in Kansas City!
BIBLE TRANSLATION UPDATE: As part of my training to become a Bible translation consultant, I checked several chapters of Ezekiel in the Eastern Slovak Roma language. Those working on the translation have done a great job and are now finishing this last book and preparing to print the completed Bible, a huge milestone. It was a joy to check the last verse in the last chapter (Ezekiel 48:34) of the final book they are translating. This is a hard book and a hard chapter to translate, but it ends with a very encouraging statement, reminding us of the glorious future that awaits God’s children: (in that Roma language) “O foros pes ole dživesestar vičinela: o RAJ hino ode”; (in English): “From now on the city will be called: the LORD is there”
For our 5th language, Ludari, our teammate, Sergej has been checking Luke chapter 9 in the Roma village in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, with our translators, Zoki and Stanoja. I have been checking chronological Bible stories 1-8 in Ludari, and examining the translation of key biblical terms in Luke to check for inconsistencies and spelling errors, as well as editing the first several glossary entries in that language.
I recently attended a four-day virtual conference on Bible translation which was very informative and helpful.
In October we spoke about Bible translation to a group of senior saints at a retirement center, John Knox Village, in Kansas City, spoke at a missions conference in KC, and I was interviewed for a podcast, which you can listen to here.
Thank you for your financial and prayer support for Bible translation for Roma!
Todd & Pamala Price (Matthew, Kirsten, Daniel & Ariela)
ABOVE AND BELOW: One of the Roma translators in Serbia distributed more copies of the Gospel of Luke & 50 chronological Bible stories in the Arli and Gurbet languages at this Roma church
I was privileged to be the guest of my good friend, Dr. Todd R. Chipman, for his recent podcast, “Voices of MCC”. MCC (Master’s Community Church, Kansas City, KS) is an amazing church with which we partner. We so enjoyed joining them last weekend at their annual missions conference.
If you would like to listen to the podcast, you can find it here. I pray this message will build you up in your faith and show you the glory of God!
Below you will see pictures of Roma at a church in Serbia who received copies of the Gospel of Luke and 50 chronological Bible stories. The red copies are in the Arli language and the green copies are in the Gurbet language.
Here are a few updated prayer requests:
Please pray that many Roma will read the text and/or listen to the audio recordings of the Gospel of Luke and 50 chronological Bible stories we recently produced in 4 Roma languages (Arli, Bayash, Chergash, and Gurbet).
Pray that the remaining printed copies will be distributed into the hands of eager readers and listeners.
Pray for us as we continue to work on Luke and the 50 chronological Bible stories in the 5th language, Ludari.
for wisdom for Todd, Sergej, Zoki, and Stanoja;
to find and fix any errors or inconsistencies in the translation drafts;
for fast and accurate progress checking and editing as a team;
to test the rest of Luke with other Ludari speakers and receive helpful feedback on the drafts;
I was privileged to be the guest of my good friend, Dr. Todd R. Chipman, for his podcast yesterday, Voices of MCC, an amazing church with which we partner. I pray this message will build you up in your faith and show you the glory of God! Listen here: https://themcc.org/sermons/vomcc027/
We are almost done with phase 1 of the Bible translation project, which is translating the Gospel of Luke and 50 chronological Bible stories in five Roma languages. Phase 2 will involve continuing on with this project by translating more of the New Testament in as many of these five language as we can.
In order to be able to get the translation work done faster, we have asked The Word for the World (TWFTW) Bible Translators to take over coordination of the project. The details and logistics to organize phase 2 are myriad and we need the Lord’s clear guidance. I wanted to lay out a few prayer requests and ask you to keep them in prayer over the next few months (October 2021-March 2022) as we transition into phase 2:
Pray that God will raise up 2 or 3 translators for each of the 5 languages. The requirements will be higher now: the translators must work full time on the project (with no other outside employment); they must be working on earning a Diploma in Bible Translation; and some of them must know English well; members of the translation team need to be from different families, villages and churches if possible. Because of new requirements, some of the current translators can continue on the project, but some will not be able to.
Pray that TWFTW can set up affiliates in Croatia and Serbia, and for God to raise up Roma, Croatian and Serbian pastors and church leaders to be on the boards of these TWFTW affiliates, to oversee the projects and help with the reviewing of the Bible translation drafts.
Pray for Pierre van Vuuren of TWFTW to have much wisdom as he makes many decisions including choosing Bible translators, negotiating salaries, setting up all the infrastructure for the teams and affiliate offices, managing translators’ contracts, implementing the training for the Diploma in Bible translation for the translators, and working with local churches and governments.
Pray for me as I will become one of the Bible translation consultants, which means I will be able to focus my full time on exegesis from the biblical languages and interpretation in the Roma languages, and consulting and advising the Roma translators, and approving of the final translations. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s enablement and guidance for this role.
Pierre van Vuuren discussing upcoming changes with translation team membersDistributing copies in the Arli languagePierre discussing new requirements with the translatorsTodd and PierreAbove and below: Pierre preaching at a Roma church
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers while I (Todd) was in Serbia and Croatia, September 5-17.
Gospel of Luke, 50 Bible stories, and biblical glossary in the Arli language
We praise God that we were able to print books which contained the Gospel of Luke, 50 stories from creation to the return of Christ, and a glossary explaining important biblical terms. We printed 750 copies in the Arli language (red cover), 200 in the Gurbet language (green cover), 200 in the Chergash language (orange color) and 200 in the Bayash language (blue color)
We also printed 50 copies in each language of books containing these 50 Bible stories with pictures, specifically for children and for adults just learning to read.
Todd playing the audio recording of the story of the Prodigal Son in the Bayash language
Along with the translators, I and the new project coordinator traveled to a dozen locations and distributed copies through local Roma churches in Croatia and Serbia. At the churches, we would play the audio version of the story of the prodigal son in whichever language the people spoke. Everyone was very attentive and listened well. We were thrilled with the feedback as the people told us they could understand the stories in their languages.
One highlight was what happened with a man who cannot read and who for 10 years has been attending the church pastored by one of our translators. The pastor and his wife rarely get much of a response from him when they ask if he has understood what they have been preaching. But when he heard the story in Bayash played over the speaker, he got so excited. He told the pastor’s wife that he understood every word, and he started summarizing the story back to her in Croatian. This is the most he has ever responded to them in church. Praise God!
At the churches we also handed out business cards with the website and YouTube address where people can listen to Luke and the 50 Bible stories in audio recordings.
Though most Roma have never read in their language, it was so encouraging to see them try, and to hear them begin reading right away.
Thank you so much for your prayers. We rejoice in what the Lord is doing and give Him all the glory!
Todd & Pamala Price (Matthew, Kirsten, Daniel & Ariela)
