Pray4Pashtuns Ramadan2024

Day 18-Kingdom Spread: Scripture Translation

• For the ongoing Bible translation efforts in the various dialects of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• For unity in vision and purpose for the translation teams.
• For God to raise up teams of translators, exegetical checkers, consultants, and linguists to get the Bible into all the dialects and to adapt existing translations into oral scripture.
• For wider distribution of the scriptures as they become available.

ISAIAH 55:11 “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Read More:

Nooria is a baptized Pashtun believer in Jesus who is newly married to a Muslim man. Her family insisted they follow through on a traditional arranged marriage to her cousin. Nooria is bright, literate, and curious. Her spouse is open-minded enough to let her maintain her “odd” new faith in Jesus. Nooria is checking and proofreading portions of Scripture being translated into her Afghan Pashto dialect as well as some stories for Christian radio programs. But now she had to stop because of objections from her new husband’s family with whom she lives.

Considered an educated Pashtun woman because she graduated from high school, Nooria has been able to help the Bible translation project by giving feedback from a woman’s perspective. She knows how women will interpret it. She knows that most women will need to hear it read aloud to them rather than read it for themselves, as only a small percentage of Pashtun women in Afghanistan are literate. Nooria can identify words that are too formal, or words that seem foreign to their dialect of Pashto. The translation project aims to be readable for those with only a sixth-to eighth-grade reading level, and there are plans to make audio recordings as soon as books are completed.

The team is hoping Nooria will be able to resume checking translation soon, and that other women can come alongside the mother-tongue translators to help with review, proofreading, and recording.

While there have been various parts of scripture translated into the main Pashto dialects, there has not been a complete Bible (Old and New Testaments) available in any dialect of Pashto since the 1890 version, which went out of print long ago. Many believe that this famine of the Word is a key reason why Pashtuns have only believed in small numbers.

The famine is about to end. The Bible has just been released in the main Pakistani dialect, in printed form and as an app. At the same time, several efforts are taking place to translate the Bible into the main Pashto dialects of Afghanistan. By 2025, we can expect a flood of Pashto scriptures.

With the full text of the Bible available in the main dialects, a whole raft of great resources can now be generated, including the Jesus film, radio, and TV programs, and, in time, discipleship materials.

There is still more to be done. Pashto has more than a dozen other key dialects that need Bible translation. Pray for the Lord to equip a new wave of translators to finish the task.