Aramaic Old Testament

Many of the estimated one million speakers still live in their ancient homelands. But persecution and economic and political pressures have scattered many others to various countries around the world, including the U.S.. Several different Aramaic languages are spoken today, and none of these language communities has had God’s Word in a readable written form for several centuries. The New Testament was published in 2002 with the blessing of the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. Today, translators and consultants in several different countries are working together to get the translation done, but their efforts have been slowed by the illness of some team members and by the dangerous political climate in some of their home countries. Nevertheless, they are committed to seeing the entire Bible translated into the language of their hearts.

  • The Aramaic team has completed their critical check of Genesis. Now the book is nearly at the publication stage. Chapters 1-3 are ready to post on the Aramaic Bible Translation website, as planned. Pray that remaining work to make Genesis fully accessible to Aramaic speakers will go smoothly without obstacles.

  • Joshua, Ruth and Esther have been rough drafted. Pray that these Old Testament books will be brought up to an acceptable level of quality and will communicate effectively to mother-tongue speakers.

  • New translator Demsin has moved to Los Angeles to begin work on his Master’s degree in Linguistics and Bible Translation at Biola. Pray that he will find his time at Biola to be a rewarding experience that will feed vitally into his Aramaic translation ministry.

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