The impact of God’s Word, when translated in the heart language of a person, is evident in the dynamic faith of believers from the U.S. to Korea, from Nigeria to Peru. However, to reach that point, Bible translators face unique linguistic challenges like these, every day:

Challenge: Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:2 to “make room for me in your hearts.” Translated literally in the Tsikimba language, the phrase “make room in your heart” is a local idiom for “hold and nurture a grudge.” Solution: The translators chose words meaning “open your hearts to us,” which means that Paul wanted to maintain good relationships with the Corinthians.

Challenge: Jesus asks in Matthew 7:11, “Who among you would give your child a snake if he asks for fish?” For the Tsishingini people, who eat both snakes and fish, the verse has the impact of “Who among you would give your child Pepsi when he asks for Coke?” Solution: Instead of the generic word “snake,” the translators chose “abijili,” a type of snake that is never eaten. This enhanced the impact of the verse while retaining the original meaning.

Challenge: In John 19, Jesus’s followers use embalming elements to wrap his corpse. The Greek word for those elements literally means “medicine.” In the Tsikimba language of Nigeria, though, “medicine” refers to the potions used by witches in black magic. The meaning conveyed could be that Jesus was resurrected by very powerful witchcraft. Solution: The translators decided to use words that mean “…they wrapped Jesus with things of fragrance… .”

Tsikimba is part of a cluster of languages called Kambari. The Kambari Language Project seeks to meet the literacy and translation needs of this language, along with the related Tsishingini and Cishingini. Please pray for them and this huge undertaking, as well as Chris, who is helping the Kambari team with their administration and financial management. Praise God that the completed Tsikimba New Testament arrived in Nigeria earlier this year! Fewer than 1 percent of Tsikimba people are Christians, so pray for God’s Word to penetrate this community.

Written by Chris and Christie Winkler (http://thosewinklers NULL.wordpress NULL.com/), who live in Jos, Nigeria and administratively support several Bible translation projects there.