What a day – the launch of the Dobel New Testament!
The culmination of 40 years’ work… many, many hours of toil… many sacrifices… many outpourings of prayer… and a huge amount of generous donations from supporters like you.
A Dobel woman reads her Dobel New Testament It was wonderful that so many of the key people in the translation team were present. Those from the Dobel people who are part of the team included Eka, who joined the team in 1988, and Yoke, whose life was transformed once she was able to engage with God’s word in her own language.
Also, there were Jock and Katy Hughes, who have served with Wycliffe on the Dobel programme for 40 years. They started working with the Dobel people in 1985. They raised their family in Indonesia, spending much of their children’s early years living in the Aru Islands. Jock and Katy moved back to Scotland in March 2020 and continued working on the Dobel translation with the team, largely online, with regular visits back to Aru.
The Dobel people have had churches for over 100 years, but the Bible was only available in the national language (Indonesian). Their own language had never been written down, so they had no access to Scripture in their own language. Now they have the whole New Testament in written form, and they can listen to audio recordings of it.
The Dobel Bible translation team hold their Dobel New Testaments As Jock says: ‘People didn’t understand what was written in God’s word. It was a different language, and the style was far too high and formal for them. It was difficult to understand.
‘And that’s what we really wanted to see changed. Through God’s word in their own language, people can now really meet with the living God and know the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.’
As Dobel people have got involved with God’s word in their language, so lives have been changed. Several members of the translation team attest to the difference it makes having God’s word in your own language.
Yustus says:
‘At first, before I had started this work I kept doing things that were wrong. I used to get drunk. When I started doing this work I decided, “No more – I’m going to give up drink now!”’
Eka recording the audio version of the Dobel New Testament And Eka says:
‘Several months before Jock and Katy started working in my village of Koijabi, the Lord Jesus spoke to me in a dream and told me to follow him, but I didn’t know what he meant. It was only when Jock asked me to help him that my wife and I realised that this was what God had spoken to me about. From that day until now, I have been helping to translate the New Testament into Dobel.
‘I also started praying to God using Dobel and it was so good.’
Fellow Dobel translator Yoke says:
‘When I first got involved in Bible translation, I was a bad person. At school, I used to bully other pupils, and even hit them – both boys and girls. My fellow pupils were afraid of me. At home I didn’t respect my parents or my brothers and sisters. I would shout insults at them and even made them cry.
Yoke enjoys reading her Dobel New Testament ‘I finished high school in 2015 and had no idea that God could use someone like me. Then I met the team who were translating the Bible into my language, Dobel. I was asked to come and help check some of the Dobel translation.
‘After that, I was asked to join the Dobel translation team. In the year that followed, Jesus slowly but surely softened my heart. By the end of the year I decided to put my trust in Jesus.
‘As I got to know Jesus better I wanted to change the way I lived. It wasn’t always easy and I thought about giving up. But I saw that God is faithful, and he kept bringing me through these trials.
‘I praise God for how much he has changed my life. I am no longer a bully but a believer. Now I love God’s word, because I have seen with my own eyes how it changes lives.’
A Dobel man reads his Dobel New Testament The Dobel New Testament isn’t just a book to sit on a shelf – it is to be used and applied.
Many in the community can now read Dobel as they have had access to literature in Dobel for many years – books that the Dobel team have worked on, both Scripture portions and non-Scripture.
This means they are able to read the Dobel New Testament too.
Jock comments: ‘It’s exciting to see that in recent years people have been getting interested and excited about having the word of God in their own language. There have been a number of positive reactions as the Dobel team have been going round the Dobel villages, visiting all the Dobel churches, and they have been training people to read and use God’s word in Dobel and to pray using Dobel.’
As Eka says, ‘So from now this generation until the generations to come they will continually remember to read God’s word in the Genuine Language [a common way of talking about the Dobel language]. And also this Genuine Language won’t die. Generation after generation will use it.
Sunset in a Dobel village ‘This work that we have been doing, its purpose is so that the Dobel people may put their trust in the Lord. People can teach God’s word to them. We have translated the New Testament for them to read. They won’t just get a copy and keep it saying it’s just a book. But they will take it and read it, so they understand it.’
The Dobel New Testament has been the work of many hands.
Together, we have helped unlock God’s word for the Dobel people.
