Pitjantjatjara Bible Translation Project - Godaku Tjukurpa Tjunkupai I

The major mission of our charity is to complete a translation of the Bible into the Pitjantjatjara language and make it available in a variety of appropriate forms to all Pitjantjatjara speakers. We work in partnership with several agencies including Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia and Bible Society Australia. The New Testament (NT) was completed and published in 2002 along with 15% of the Old Testament (OT). Since then the NT has been revised (2007 & 2019) and in 2010 work began on the rest of the OT, (over three times the size of the NT). This work has continued over the ensuing years. In the drafting process, the first draft always takes the longest and is usually the most difficult. Sometimes the translators translate the English front translation too literally, meaning the Pitjantjatjara is unnatural or unintelligible; other times the Pitjantjatjara is very natural, but might inadvertently stray too far from the meaning of the Hebrew. So the second, third and sometimes fourth or fifth drafts are usually just 'ironing out' one or other of these two tendencies. The good news is that in 2024 most of the really difficult work (i.e. the first draft) is all but complete for the entire OT (except for a few genealogies). We're anticipating that more individual books will be completed and published at a more regular rate over the coming few years. As of end of July 2024 The Apostle's Creed for All God's Children is being typeset ready for publication. I believe Louise is adding my final spellchecks to the InDesign files. The Daily Prayer is about ¾ through a final draft/check. Probably a couple of years away from publication. A first draft of 1 and 2 Kings has been completed. Second drafts of this book will commence in 2025. A back translation of 2 Samuel was finished, so this can now be consultant checked (the final 'check' before publication) Second and third drafts of the book of Job were begun. Many more Psalms were drafted and approx. 80% of the book of Psalms has at least a second draft. The final draft of Proverbs has been completed and will be consultant checked some time in 2025. A second draft of Isaiah has been completed and 27 chapters of a third draft has also been completed. 15 chapters of Jeremiah were first drafted with only two more chapters until the entire first draft is complete. Chapters 139 of Ezekiel have been first drafted. A second draft of Hosea has been completed The final drafts of the books of Nahum, Zephaniah and Malachi were completed by a team of translators