My preparation for classical education has begun. Reading the King James
Bible made me realized many things. One that really stood out for me was that
God takes pleasure in his creation.
And God saw everything that he has made, and, behold, it was very
good. Gen 1:31
In everything that He creates, God saw to
it that it was good. God is an excellent worker. That makes me happy because it
means that we are all created as God's best, you and I.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created
he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them.
God has blessed us. He did not let us go
without his blessing. We have been blessed. It's like a seal. Isn't that
wonderful?
And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish
the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
This feels like God was saying,
"Go ahead, enjoy! Everything here is for you."
I did some parallel reading and tried to
compare KJV to NAB(New American Bible). I discovered that subtle is cunning and
fowls of the air are birds of the air and every beast of the earth is various
wild animals. This is a fun way to learn new words. It gets more interesting
when I tried to compare KJV to our Cebuano Version of the Bible (Ang Bag-ong
Maayong Balita).
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil. -Gen 3:4-5 KJV
Gisulti kani sa Dios kaninyo kay nasayod man gud siya nga kon
mokaon kamo niini, maabli ang inyong
salabotan ug mahisama kamo
kaniya nga nasayod unsay maayo ug unsay daotan." -Gen 3:4-5 Cebuano
God said this to you because he knows that if you will eat this, your mind shall be opened and you shall be
like gods knowing what is good and evil. - Gen
3:4-5
- My translation
from Cebuano to English
My God how beautiful is the Bible in our
own language. How different is the translation of then your eyes shall be opened,. In our language it is not the eyes
that shall be opened but the mind. Salabotan has something to do with the mind not
with the eyes, though I maybe taking the English translation quite literally.
But based on my translation of our Cebuano language to English it's quite
different. This is wonderful, like, Ahhhh!. :) I think our Cebuano translation
of the Bible is quiet strong.
Take for example:
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. -Gen 3:3 KJV
Gidid-an kami sa Dios sa pagkaon ug bisan gani sa paghikap nianang kahoya. Kon supakon namo kini, mamatay kami. -Gen 3:3 Cebuano
God has forbidden us to eat or even touch that tree. If we disobey
this, we will die. -Gen 3:3 My
translation from Cebuano to English
Gidid-an is forbid and supakon is violate or disobey. I read from the
foreword of the Ang Bag-ong Maayong Balita Bible that the scholars did not
translate the Bible from English Bible to Cebuano but from Greek directly to
Cebuano (our dialect). Just like how our Roman
Missal Mass was translated from Latin to Visaya.
The scholars task to translate and choose
appropriate words is like getting a peek of their world. I wonder how it would
feel to be given the duty to translate the Bible. How would they go about their
day? Knowing that whatever words they choose today will go down for generations
and generations to read. But I believe people with this kind of task are guided
by the Holy Spirit. So words from the scriptures in whatever language will
always be a two edged sword.
