Of those who can read, many have to read God’s Word in a foreign language and not their mother tongue. With the help of our supporters, and working in collaboration with other Bible Societies, we aim to address this need and make the Word of God accessible to more people everywhere.
As a member of the United Bible Societies (UBS) the Bible Society in New Zealand supports and contributes to UBS translation work worldwide. Through sponsorship of translation projects and assistance to translators, the UBS makes the Scriptures more accessible to people of different nations and cultures. Currently UBS is involved in 560 translation projects worldwide – covering some 955 languages which are receiving technical help and advice from the UBS’s highly-qualified team of translation consultants. Many of these projects also receive direct financial support from the UBS, which spends around US$11m a year on translation. In 320 languages some part of the Bible is being translated for the first time. In many of the rest, where older Bible versions already exist, new translations are being prepared in clear, modern language that is easily understandable to today’s readers.
Over the last two hundred years, there has been an incredible growth in the number of languages in which Scriptures are available.
New Zealand translation projects
The Bible Society in New Zealand is currently involved in two translation projects in New Zealand.
New Tokelau Bible
The Tokelau Society for the Translation of the Bible initiated a project to translate the Bible into the Tokelauan language. While the Gospel of Mark was published in Tokelau in 2000, and the four Gospels in one volume in 2003, this is the first time the entire Bible is being translated into Tokelauan. A translation team based in Porirua, who have been working on this project since 1996, and have now completed the New Testament, which will be available early in 2009. Work is continuing on the Old Testament, with the complete Tokelauan Bible likely to be ready in another 8 years.
Enhanced Maori Bible
For some years Bible Society has been involved in a project to enhance the Maori Bible, Te Paipera Tapu. The current translation, produced in 1952, is now being enhanced to make it more readable. The text has been updated with the addition of macrons to long vowels, modern punctuation including speech marks and paragraphing, book introductions, section headings and maps. The New Testament with the enhanced text (alongside the Good News Bible text in English) is available now and the complete enhanced Maori Bible will be ready for publication late in 2010.
