About this New Testament in the Gondi language
Foreword
Language is a gift from God to man
What is language really? Language is form of talking or writing in order to convey meaning that is within each other’s minds and hearts and any other matter. It is made up of words, meaning where words should come in a sentence and according to tense. Due to using this kind of language, humans are seperate from all living creatures in the world. This language is people’s important characteristic. Through this, the people of this world will know a people’s tribe, rituals-and-customs, rules-and-regulations and respectful living.
Where did language come from? God created this creation very beautiful. How that is, he created different kinds of trees, colourful flowers, different different animals, different different tribes and languages. Because God likes variety in this way. Therefore God gave the gift of these languages to the people of this world. Just as man’s origin is from God, language’s origin also is from God.
What is the purpose of language? Every language in the world should get respect and [one] should carefully study about that language. In order for it to remain and not be forgotten through people forgetting [how to] speak it little-by-little, this language must be preserved. For example, our Koya or Gondi words in the form of dictionaries, and our Koya language should be printed and kept in the form of books. Like that this should also be prepared and kept in the form of songs and movies.
Why should the Bible be in (Koya or) the Gondi language? Everyone has the right to read and write a language. Everyone has the right to know and understand the truth. Everyone has the right to choose what they should believe. Everyone in the world also has the right to be able to read and listen to the news about God. And having heard that message which is for them, they must think [about that] in their inner-being. Until now we have not read in our language what God has done for us and what he has prepared for us. It has been written in the Gondi language so that we may know what God is saying to us. In this way, this important work has been done so that having known that God, and understood about him, we should serve him in the right way.
What is the Bible really? God caused his prophets and believers to write this book of his words and commands. All these authors, who were from the three different continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, in different countries and different generations, wrote as God commanded. Altogether there were about forty people. They wrote this between fifteen hundred (1,500) years before the Lord Jesus was born and one hundred years after the Lord Jesus was born. Meaning altogether the books of this Bible were written over sixteen hundred (1,600) years. There are a total of sixty six books in this. In this there are two parts: the first part is called the Old Testament and the second part is called the New Testament. But in this book, only the second part has been translated into Gondi and is there. The first part is yet to be translated completely.
How is that ancient scripture related to our Gond religious-rules-and-customs? In the Gond religion the religious-rules-and-customs of giving of grain offerings and goat sacrifices have been running from long-ago. Each year we keep on doing all these kinds of sacrifices so that we should have peace-and-happiness and get salvation. But in order that we would not have to keep repeating those religious-rules-and-customs, God sacrificed his son once for all of us. Through this sacrifice we get salvation in heaven. We become that God’s children. If we think of that matter of sacrifice, we will come to know how much God loves [and loves] us. God created the whole of creation. He created us who are people to live in it [in creation]. And he told, remember me and worship me. Therefore God’s word is useful at all time for all the people in the world. So there is also a great necessity to have this scripture for us Gonds. The truth in God’s word is the same and unchangeable from generation to generation. And the promises which that God has given to us can never be broken. In this scripture, are God’s words about how we should live in the world in order to be acceptable that God would give us salvation.
How can we know that God?
1. God’s purpose: God loves you very much. He caused you to be born of your parents for one purpose. His purpose is that you should know that God and be with him forever. About this,
“Due to God loving the people of the world very much he sent his only son to the earth. He did like this so that everyone putting faith on his son, would get eternal life without being destroyed.” like that it is written (John 3:16).
2. The barrier between people and God: His good purpose is that you should know that God and be with him forever. But people are going their own way. And they are not living according to the law that God decided. Living like this against God is called sin. This sin has separated us and God. It has prevented us from being with him and from having a relationship with him. This sin stands as a barrier from ever approaching God and brings the death punishment on everyone. Because,
“There is not even one righteous-one!
There is not even one who understands about righteous ways!
There is not even one who searches for God!
Everyone, having lost their way,
[they] became useful for nothing”
like that it is written (Romans 3:10-12).
3. God’s plan to overcome that barrier We cannot go to God with our completely useless efforts. Therefore God prepared something to completely pay off our sins. How that is, he sent Jesus Christ into this world in order to get rid of the sin that is between men and God. About this,
“The righteous-one Christ, bore suffering according to the sins of us who are unrighteous-ones. And to draw us close to God, he died only once in bodily form” like that it is written (1 Peter 3:18).
The translation process:
On what basis was this scripture translated into our Gondi? Having read Bibles written in different languages and having understood them, it was written in common Gondi language that we all understand. Not only that, whenever there was a different word in Bibles of different languages, then having looked at the Greek or Hebrew Bible, and having understood the meaning, it was written.
How trustworthy is the translation written like this?
1. Who (all) did the translation? our Gonds who have translated this were trained in translation for six years, and learned the rules of translation.
2. Who (all) checked this translation? Those who are knowlegeable in the Bible and very experienced in translation of [the Bible] checked. How they did this, they carefully read each book, chapter and verse. And in those verses they checked for mistakes and caused [those] to be corrected.
3. Who (all) approved the Bible translated into Gondi for use in their own community? Even after all kinds of checking, we, the brothers of the Gondi Translation Committee, carefully read each and every translated book, and further corrected matters relating to our Gondi culture and we approved it for use within our community.
How is this Gondi translation of the Bible different to translations of the Bible in other languages?
The primary goal of any translation work is that those reading at this time will understand just like those ancient ones at first understood the meaning of the original Biblical languages (meaning in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek). Due to it being written in language that is being used today, everyone who reads or hears will be able to understand. Each language’s grammar and structure is different. For this reason, if we translate as it is word-for-word, then many of the ideas of those ancient written matters will be mixed-up. Then the reader or the hearer will not understand the true meaning in that. Someone else would have to explain and tell that. To avoid this kind of problem, and to ensure that everyone who reads will understand properly, we have tried to translate the meaning of each and every section, without translating word-for-word.
Sometimes, in order to bring the meaning in the translation we have used different words. And in those places we have written the words we used at the bottom of the page according to the verse. For example, Matthew 16:24 in Gondi says “bearing his own troubles”. But in the Greek language it says, “carry the cross and walk.” “Carrying the cross” means “bearing suffering and death.”
In some sections, in order for the correct meaning to come in Gondi, we have joined verses together. 3-5In this way, if two or more verses are joined and those verses re-ordered, then those who are reading will understand very well.
None of the translators can translate the exact meaning completely (meaning one hundred percent) from the first language to another language. Knowing this, we have also prayed much to God, requesting wisdom in order to translate, and having taken much trouble, we have handed to our Gonds. Now our prayer is that many of our people will understand the word of the creator and life-giving God, believe and put faith in his son Jesus Christ. Because, [God] has sent his son Jesus Christ and caused his holy blood and life to be given as a sacrifice for us who have lost our way from God’s true way and slidden away from his word. And God raised him on the third day according to the scriptures he caused to be written before Jesus’ birth. Whoever puts faith in him, he will get salvation. About this,
“Except by the name of this Jesus, no one's name on earth can save us” it is written (Acts 4:12).
And in another place,
“Having accepted with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, believing with our heart that God raised him from among the dead, we will be saved” it is written (Romans 10:9).
Gondi Translation Committee
2018
How to use this book? (also see various indexes at the back)
Keep these matters in mind while reading this scripture:
1. Wherever there is a dotted underline for new and difficult words (for example, baptism, synagogue, or Pharisee) there is [something] about those kinds of words in the final section of this book.
2. Also, in order to understand about a word or phrase which is marked with this kind (*) of star symbol, there is something about this at the bottom of the page.
3. And if there is a symbol of a dagger like this (†), it shows those matters are also in different books.
4. In some places, in the original language books, where these words are not there, and in some books where verses have been missed, in order to show them, we have marked in square brackets like this *[ ... ] and have written about them at the bottom of the page.