Translation in English :
If you have a Bible, in your own dialect/language, and you think it was easy to do so, then it is not.
Early Christians were never able to own the Bible easily, because 1. It was either written in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, or Latin languages, and most of them couldn’t read it. Secondly, it wasn’t available for sale in the market. Thirdly, even if it was sold anywhere, nobody could afford it as it was expensive. Fourthly, in those days, the Roman Catholics didn’t allow the common people to read the Bible, and it didn’t allow anyone to translate the Bible into any other language. Lastly, whoever would try to translate would be punishable by law by burning at the stake. Thus, it was impossible to read or have your Bible during the early days of Christianity.
And then, in 1381, a man named John Wycliffe, a professor at Oxford University, realized that it was not right if the common people learned only from the Clergy or Pope’s teachings, and they should be able to read and understand the Bible independently. He then tried to translate the Bible from
Latin to English, and the news let the Archbishop of Canterbury pass an order to burn him. However, due to his alliance with Oxford University and the help of King Richard II, his life was saved. Forty years later, after his death, his bones were dug from his grave and burnt along with the Bible he translated.
As years passed by, in 1523, another man in London named William Tyndale wanted to translate the Bible again and asked for permission from the Bishop of London, which was rejected. So, he decided to leave London in April 1524 to fulfill his wish of translation. He eventually published the first ever New Testament Bible translated from Greek to English in 1526 and then completed the Old Testament in 1530. Later, he was arrested in 1536 due to his unlawful translation actions and was strangled to death and burnt at to stake. He lost his life because of his Bible Translation.
If all of the above were the early historical stories, let us find out about our story.
In 1934, respected (L) Rev Nengzachin Hangzo got the chance to study theology in the US with the help of Rev H.H Coleman. In 1936, he began his journey from Churachandpur to Kolkata and to Bombay by road. From Bombay port, he boarded a ship/cruise for 30 days and reached New York on 8 September 1936. He studied theology at Eastern Baptist Seminary (now known as Primer Theological Seminary). However, he had to leave America in September 1939 and returned home to Churachandpur. After some time, he got an offer from the British Government as the King’s Commissioned Officer (KCO), starting as a 2nd Lieutenant position, which was a massive deal for those days as it came with all the power and superior authority of the British army. However, respected Rev H Nengzachin was such a great and noble man that he wrote this in his diary,
“It will be good for me, and it will greatly help me in eking out a living; however, I’m convinced that this was not the will of God, who had guided me thus far. Therefore, I chose to remain with my people, write books on theology, especially translate The whole Bible.”
With such dynamic thoughts, he started his journey of Bible translation into the Paite language at Kaihlam village. He completed his first translation of the Gospel of John and the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians and then Hebrew, using a typewriter he brought from America. That is how he spent his entire livelihood translating the remaining Bible into Paite language and got published and inaugurated in Upper Lamka ECC 1972.
Having said all the above, our Bible (Laisiangthou) in our own language did not come easy and caused many sacrifices of early people. Therefore, if your Bible is lying somewhere in the corner or shelf, not opened, unread, or not understood, then the sacrifice and hardships faced by our ancestors would be wasted.
Негізгі бет A tribute to Rev H Nengzachin. First time ever in history of Paite! Watch till the end!
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