In a couple of days we leave for a 6-week visit to Ghana to work with the translation team on the Kasem Bible. We are working towards having the Bible ready to start the publication process in November this year, and there are a lot of details to pick up on. Here is one example.

There are several different kinds of sacrifices and offerings described in the Old Testament, with details of when they are to be offered and for what purpose. Alongside these “obligatory” offerings, there is the opportunity for the people of Israel to bring “freewill” offerings that are presented to God on a voluntary basis. These might be to help with a particular need within the community of God’s people, e.g. work on the sanctuary (Exodus 36:3), or to express personal thanksgiving for God’s blessing (Deuteronomy 16:10).

In checking the consistency of  how we had translated the Hebrew term נְדָבָה (nǝdabah) I found we had used two expressions. Firstly there was “own-thinking gifts”, focusing on the element of choice. But we had also in some places used “sweet-inside gifts”, focusing more on the generosity of a gift one is not obliged to make. Kasem uses a lot of idioms based on body parts to express attitudes and emotions. In this case the “inside” (wo) is the equivalent of the heart, as used in English expressions. These would be gifts made from a sweet-heart (wo-ywoŋo pɛɛra), expressing the generous attitude with which they are made.

We have to decide which of these expressions would be better for translating “freewill offerings” and then check the consistency of translation for all 26 occurrences of the Hebrew term. This process needs to be repeated for many terms and expressions. We thank God for excellent software to assist in the task.

As a final warning, Kasem idioms are not always what they seem. To have a warm heart (n wo lona) means you are stingy. So I hope today your heart is sweet rather than warm.