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The Whole Word for the Whole World
 
 
 
 
 

Center for Oral Scriptures

Training & tools for oral Bible translation & engagement

 
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Of the 7,000+ languages of the world

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Over 6,000 do not have a full Bible

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And 45% do not have a written form

 

80% of the world are oral learners—people who are not necessarily illiterate but prefer to learn through oral performance. Because of this huge need, the Oral Bible Translation specialization was added to the MA in Translation Consulting. In 2020, OBT Training was held in Jerusalem and online through Biblical Foundations of Orality, Oral Bible Translation, and OBT Render Experience courses with over 650 assignments completed.

 
 

Gerhard Marx, Director of COS, shares his heart for oral communities and how 2020 provided foundations for oral Bible translation in unexpected ways.
Click through the 3 scrolling videos above to watch.

“There needs to be a new way to making God’s Scripture available to oral people. Critical in this need for oral Bible translation is equipping and training Bible translators to serve Bible-less oral people.

My heart for being involved is to serve oral people by bringing them the Word of God so they can truly say, ‘God speaks my language’—that they can hear it, and not just to hear it, but to really engage with it in a way that’s meaningful for them. Oral communication is much more than the verbal. It is also the non-verbal. It is those things that we don’t always consider—the artifacts, the rituals, the storying. All of those things that communicate to people where they are in their context.”
— Gerhard Marx
 

A beautiful testimony from "Elazar" Lawrence Arul, a 2019 graduate of the School of Biblical Hebrew who continued on in Jerusalem for the 2020 Summer Masters Program He is now working on oral Bible translation of the Old Testament in the Pattapu language. He talks about sharing the book of Jonah with Pattapu people, and how even more personal and community impact will come from them hearing the whole Word in their heart language.

 
 
 

RINA CROCHETS A PARABLE

“Rina” is a translation consultant in training who has been in Jerusalem the past year completing the immersive School of Biblical Hebrew and MA in Classical Hebrew & Translation Consulting. She is involved with the End Bible Poverty Now initiative because of her experiences as a Bible training leader in Australia, Germany and Papua New Guinea. It was in PNG that she first realized the need for Bible translation and audiovisual Bibles as the community there does not read and has no Scripture in their heart language.

 
 
 

Sample Projects & Performances

Oleksandr performs The Ten Commandments in
Israeli Sign Language

Beryl performs the Creation story in Hebrew

“May I have the needed passion, strength, and support to pursue orality in all its fullness and advantages as a servant of God for my people group and for the people group to which the organization I belong is serving. Thank you for being an instrument in opening the eyes of my mind. ”
— Margie, Philippines