Christians in Southeast Asia Able to Read Gospel in Native Tongue for First Time in 182 Years

182年来东南亚的基督徒终于可以用母语来读福音书

By LEAH MARIEANNKLETT ([email protected]) 

中文翻译：Ruth Wei

May 04, 2016 11:44 AM EDT -  

Wycliffe Associates seeks to accelerate Bible translation around the world by empowering national translators and equipping the local church to translate God's Word into every language by 2025. Photo Credit: Wycliffe Associates

For the first time in 182 years, Christians in Southeast Asia are able to read the NewTestament in their own language thanks to the tireless work of Wycliffe Associates (WA). According to a report shared on the Wycliffe Associates, an organization that accelerates Bible translation around the world by empowering national translators and equipping the local church, nearly two centuries ago,missionaries came to Southeast Asia with the gospel.

182年以来，东南亚的基督徒首次可以用自己的母语来读新约圣经，这要归功于圣经翻译机构威克里夫协会的不知疲倦的工作。据威克里夫协会的一个报告称，一个机构通过帮助国家翻译和培养当地的教会加速了全球的圣经翻译，而在差不多两个世纪之前，宣教士们带着福音来到了东南亚地区。

At the time,there was no translation of the Scriptures available, so they had to study God's Word in a foreign language. "Miraculously, they held onto their faith through hardship and persecution. God's church in this remote region survived," reads the report.

那时，并没有翻译的圣经可用，所以东南亚地区的人不得不用外语学习上帝的话语。“奇妙的是，在逼迫和困境下他们都持守住自己的信仰，上帝的教会挺立在这个偏远的地区。”那个报告如此的说。

However, through the Wycliffe Associates' Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation program, a pioneering method that enables mother-tongue translators to translate the Bible in an unprecedented time, the New Testament has now been translated, and translators plan to complete the Old Testament by the end of 2016.

但是，通过威克里夫协会的流动辅助支持翻译系统，一种开创性的方法可以帮助母语翻译者在一个空前的时期内完成圣经的翻译，新约圣经已经完成翻译，并且这些译者也计划在2016年底完成旧约圣经的翻译。

The Southeast Asia language group was one of 14 people groups in the world, representing 17million people, who have never read the Bible in their own language.  

东南亚语族群是世界14种族群之一，总共1700万人，他们从来没有读过母语版的圣经。

"They've endured persecution. They've struggled to teach the Scriptures to their young people in other languages. They've been told for generations they have to keep waiting until Westerners can translate the Bible for them," said Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates.

“他们忍受迫害，挣扎着用其他语言教导年轻人圣经，他们几个世代以来就被告知必须等待，直到西方人为他们翻译圣经，” 威克里夫协会主席及首席执行官布鲁斯·史密斯告诉大家。

Translatorsworked tirelessly to translate the Bible, drafting verses simultaneously beforeusing a five-step process to check them for accuracy, Wycliffe notes.

译者孜孜不倦的翻译着圣经，在用五步法校正之前，他们先一起翻译出经文草稿。

"In my 30years of work in international missions, I've often heard there will be a day when the church takes its place, when the old-fashioned missionary model is no longer the only way. This is that day," Smith said.

“在国际宣教工作的30年中，我经常听到终有一天教会会建立，旧式的宣教模式不再是单一的方法。而现在就是那一天。”史密斯说。

"Christian churches, planted by missionaries in the 1800s, have survived - and they will drive the translation of God's Word into their own languages. There is no denying God has wrought the miraculous in Southeast Asia," he added.

“宣教士在1800年代建立的基督教会存活了下来并且他们将促进把上帝的话语翻译成当地语言。不可否认上帝在东南亚创造了神迹，”他补充道。

Wycliffe Bible translators often risk their lives to bring the gospel to hard-to-reach regions of the world. Earlier this year, Wycliffe Associates said that four of its workers were killed at an office in the Middle East in March, but did not reveal the exact location due to the dangers associated with the work.

威克里夫圣经翻译者经常冒着生命危险把福音带到世界各个难以触及的地区。威克理夫协会公布，今年年初，四名圣经翻译员在中东的办公室内被杀害，但为了保护其他相关的工作人员并没有透露具体的位置。

Two of the workers, killed by suspected Islamic radicals, reportedly died by gun shots,while the two other victims were beaten to death after laying on top of the lead translator to save his life.

两名工作人员被伊斯兰激进分子开枪打死，而另外两名为了保护他们的领袖而躺在他身上最后被殴打至死。

"This is actually normal. Christians are attacked, they're beaten, they're killed,they're jailed, they're tortured, and they're terrorized in this part of the world routinely," Smith told Mission News Network at the time.

“这个其实很正常。基督徒在这边经常被袭击，被打，被杀，被捕，被折磨也被威吓，”史密斯那时告诉宣教新闻网络。

Despite such danger, translators "have such a thirst and such a commitment to getting God's Word to their people that these are risks that they accept," he said. "It increases their resolve to seeing God's Word reach the hearts of the people who are caught in this kind of violence and hopelessness." 

虽然非常危险，翻译者“非常的渴慕并且委身于将上帝的话语分享给自己的同胞，”史密斯说，“这个也坚定了他们的决心，那就是要看到上帝的话语深入那些被这样的暴力和绝望所围困的人的心里。”

Officials for Wycliffe recently revealed the organization has scheduled the first Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation training session at an undisclosed locationin order to help Bible translators working in dangerous areas.

威克里夫协会的官员最近公布为了帮助那些在危险地方工作的圣经翻译者，已经安排了第一次的在一个秘密的地方进行的流动辅助支持翻译系统的培训课程。

The training sessions will reportedly use new translation strategies that aim to shorten the time needed to translate the Gospel, with portions of the Bible available in weeks or months rather than years.  

培训课程将会报道利用新的翻译策略来缩短翻译福音书的时间，并且部分圣经也可以在数周或是数月而不是数年内被翻译出来。

"The days of reaching the easiest places are mostly behind us," Smith told MMN."Getting God's Word to the remaining nations of the world...is the challenge that we face, the challenge to which God calls us."

史密斯还告诉宣教新闻网络：“到达最简单的地方几乎就在眼前了，把上帝的话语传给世上未触及的人群是我们面对的挑战，也是上帝呼召我们的挑战。”

Related Bible verses:

相关经文：

Acts 使徒行传1：7-8

Jesussaid to them, "It isn't for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth."

耶稣对他们说：“父凭着自己的权柄所定的时候和日期，不是你们可以知道的。不过圣灵临到你们的时候，你们将得着能力，并且要在耶路撒冷，在犹太和撒马利亚全地，直到地极，做我的见证人。"

整理：于姊妹