Abstract
Without Bible translation, it would have been very difficult for the Church to perform its preaching and teaching mandate in a new environment, for Scriptures were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. A faithful translation of the Bible allows the Church to help the local indigenes to understand the text and theologise aright in their mother-tongue. However, the Asante-Twi Bible, an example of a translated Bible has some text that have not been translated accurately. One of such is the translation of Revelation 1:8, the study area for this paper. The present translation of the Greek text in the Asante-Twi Bible does not allow God to possess an Ashanti name. This article delves into the study of the text with the lens of Ashanti scholars in the Asante-Twi context and an exegesis of the Greek text to look for the sameness in the Asante-Twi. The paper argues for the translation of Revelation 1:8 as: Mene Ahyεaseε ne Awieeε no, Awurade Nyankopɔn na ɔseε, deε ɔwɔ hɔ, na ɔwɔ hɔ dada na ɔreba, ade nyinaa so Tumfoɔ no (“I am the Alpha and Omega,” says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty).
Highlights
There is no perfect translation whatsoever in the world
Without Bible translation, it would have been very difficult for the Church to perform its preaching and teaching mandate in a new environment, for Scriptures were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek
Summary of the interpretations With the exception of Adjei Arthur whose principle for translating strange terminology does not allow local indigenes to theologise aright, all the Asante scholars interviewed seem to speak a common language for the translation of Revelation 1:8 as: Mene Ahyjasej ne Awieej no, Awurade Nyankopcn na csej, dej cwc hc, na cwc hc dada na creba, ade nyinaa so Tumfoc no (“I am the Alpha and Omega,” says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty)
Summary
There is no perfect translation whatsoever in the world. a faithful translation of Scripture into the mothertongue of a people is necessary to achieving relevant theological understanding, as the lack of a good translation impedes effective understanding of the text.2 There are situations in Bible translations where some texts are not translated to meet the theological understanding, religio-cultural setting and worldview of the target audience, but ‘carried wholly’ into the newly translated language to make them look as if they form part of the language.
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