Dedication of the Revised Binumarien New Testament

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The revised Binumarien New Testament with five Old Testament books was dedicated on June 16th. Mitchell has been working with the team since 2016 to get these Scriptures back into print.

There was much excitement on dedication day. The Binumarien people greeted our family and other guests with songs and dancing in their traditional cultural dress. At the end, people excitedly received new Bibles.

In the morning before we left, they held a worship service and gave testimonies about the importance of God’s Word in their lives. Many people brought their new Bibles and had them open during the service.

Pastor Rex Sao said, “God’s Word has come into our language. God’s Word has come to us like sunlight and it shines everywhere. When we see it, it will help our spirits and many will receive eternal life.”

Janeen has written a few stories about the Binumarien and produced a short documentary film about the recent Bible dedication.

Thank you for your partnership. Your prayers and gifts are helping to bring God’s Word to the people of Papua New Guinea.

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(Top photo by Cameron Kelly, lower photo by Jo Miller)

History of Binumarien New Testament

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The Binumarien people are a small language group that live in remote villages in Eastern Highlands Province. By the time Wycliffe Bible Translators missionaries, Des and Jenny Oatridge, arrived in 1958, the language group’s population had dropped from a high of 3000 to only 111 people because of tribal fighting and disease. Des and Jenny developed a writing system for the language and taught the people to read and write. Namondi Unare, the grandson of Tuluo Sisia, Des Oatridges’ chief language consultant, says that his grandfather told him that when the Gospel of John was translated, it was like he could truly see and understand the Christian faith like a man standing on a mountaintop.  As more of the New Testament was translated and read by the people, they grew in their understanding of faith in Christ.

God’s Word took a deep hold of the people after the New Testament was dedicated in 1984.  The Lord has done a great transforming work among the people through His Word. Tribal fighting among themselves and with other groups is much less common, and their population has made a dramatic recovery to over 1000 people. They have abandoned animistic beliefs in spirits and the practice of calling on their ancestors for help when they hunt, and trust Jesus Christ to meet their needs.

In the years following the New Testament dedication, Des Oatridge revised Genesis and Exodus and then translated Psalms and Proverbs. The Oatridges left Papua New Guinea in 1998.

Revised Binumarien New Testament with 5 Old Testament Books 

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The Binumarien people have been actively using their vernacular New Testament dedicated in 1984 and the vernacular compilation of Genesis, Exodus and Psalms published in 2003.

The current translation team is working to complete the whole Bible. Namondi Unare leads the team of five Binumarien men in the current Old Testament translation effort. Mitchell Michie has been assisting and training the team. The team has drafted much of the Old Testament, but it is expected to take several years before their Old Testament work is completed.

A couple of years ago, some Binumariens requested to buy a New Testament. Their thirty-two year old New Testaments were worn out due to much use and the harsh tropical environment.   One man showed us his New Testament that had lost its cover. The pages were smoked up from wood fires that they make in their houses for cooking and keeping warm. Concerns were also raised that the young people did not have a vernacular Bible. Unfortunately, no more Bibles were available.

In 2017, the Binumarien translation team slowed down their Old Testament translation work in order to focus on getting the Scriptures that had already been published back into print. Their revised Bible includes the New Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Proverbs, and Esther. They made some minor revisions to the original text and removed tone markers. The new publication also includes new maps, illustrations, and a topical index for Bible study.

The New Testament revision with five Old Testament books was dedicated June 16, 2018. Besides making Scripture available, which leads to spiritual transformation, the publication of this volume will strengthen the language group’s use of their mother tongue and help to preserve their rich cultural identity.

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Greetings from Papua New Guinea!

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The boys travelled well on the five flights to get here. Thanks for your prayers! Isaac is learning to crawl. Joshua has rejoined his classmates in Kindergarten at the mission center. He misses his school and friends in Canada. Janeen has been writing mini stories for the PNG experience blog about the country and ways we see God at work through Bible translation. Mitchell continues to work with the Kala and Binumarien translation teams.

The Binumarien New Testament and Five Old Testament Books will be dedicated on Saturday June 16th. Mitchell has been working on the preparations for the dedication. Communicating with the Binumarien translators has been challenging since the team leader’s cell phone was stolen. For a couple of weeks Mitchell tried to reach the Binumarien translation team. One morning Joshua prayed that we would be able to reach them. Later that morning, we got a call that two of them were hiking out of their village to meet with him.

When we met with the team leader, Namondi, he said “When I brought the first copy of the Binumarien New Testament and Five Old Testament books to my people, everyone cried with joy. They said, ‘Our Bibles are in tatters after many years of use in worship services and Bible study. We did not know how we could ever get new Bibles.’” Namondi continued, “There was much excitement in the air as I opened the Bible to show them the text, illustrations, and maps.” We praise God with the Binumarien people that the Bibles have arrived in country and will soon be dedicated.

We want to thank you for partnering with us so that we can serve the Binumarien people with God’s Word. We also wish to thank Global Publishing Services for funding the typesetting, printing, and shipping of this revised New Testament with Five OT books.

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