Bible translations (Ilocano)
Encyclopedia
The Ilocano Bible
, published in 1909, is the second Bible
to be published in any Philippine language
, after the Tagalog
which was published in 1905.
As of the first decade of the 21st century, three bible translations in the Ilocano language of the Philippines
exist:
and the British and Foreign Bible Society
published the Ilocano New Testament
in 1904. Simply titled Ti Baro a Tulag Wenno Ti Baro a Testamento ni Apo Tayo a Jesucristo (The New Agreement or the New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ). Though much of the supervision was given as a task to the BFBS
, the work was enthusiastically assisted by the different American
Protestant Missionaries in the North
. Among the well known translators was Isabelo de los Reyes
, the founder of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, who as gaoled in Barcelona
during that time.
Five years later, the BFBS
finished the translation of the Old Testament
and gave it the title Ti Daan a Tulag nga Isu ti Umuna a Paset ti Santa Biblia (The Old Teastament which is the First Part of the Holy Bible) thus allowing the final publication of the complete Ilocano Bible
in 1912. Unlike the two separate versions, the complete Ilocano Bible
was simple called Ti Biblia (Ilocano: The Bible).
However, when the Good News Translation or the Today's English Version was punlished in the United States
in 1966, the Philippine Bible Society commissioned another group of translators translate the Bible
following the same principles of dynamic equivalence. Thus, the publication of Ti Baro a Tulag ti Naimbag a Damag Biblia (the New Testament of the Good News Bible) came in 1973 and 10 years later the complete Ti Naimbag a Damag Biblia.
During these time also, the Roman Catholic Church
, through the Papal
Encyclical
Divino Afflante Spiritu
which has been dubbed as the "Magna Carta for Biblical Progress", opened its doors for its members to study the Bible
as aggressively as Protestants do. This meant that Pope Pius XII
encouraged that the Roman Catholics
study the original biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic
and Greek
). Thus new translators of the Bible
used the original languages as the textual base instead of Saint Jerome
's Latin Vulgate.
The different Protestant churches welcomed the move as this has been their philosophy since William Tyndale
translated his very first New Testament
in English
. The encyclical
also encouraged a version of the Holy Scriptures to be jointly translated by Roman Catholic
and Protestant scholars, thus giving rise to what they call the Common Bible. Today, the second title (given above) is the most used, as it was approved liturgically not only by the Roman Catholic Church but by many of the other churches as well.
Later in 1990's, the Philippine Bible Society realised a need to revise the Naimbag a Damag Biblia because of further advancement in linguistic
and arcaheological knowledge. Hence the birth of Ti Baro a Naimbag a Damag Biblia (The New Good News Bible). Like the earlier version, it used the original languages as the textual base and was jointly translated by Roman Catholic
and Protestant scholars.
. In 1620, the very first book in Ilocano was published by Rev. Fr. Francisco Lopez. The book was entitled Doctirna Cristiana en la Lengua Española e Yloca which was aimed to be used for catechism. The Book contained a translation of the Lord's Prayer
(entitled Amami) and the Ten Commandments
(entitled Daguiti Sangapulo a Bilin).
During the time of the revolution, Don Isabelo de los Reyes
, known as the Father of Philippine Socialism, made his translations of the Gospel of Luke
while he was gaoled in Montijuich Castle in Barcelona
, Spain
. But because Don Belong
was not knowledgeable in the Biblical languages, the BFBS
allowed him to use the available Spanish Bibles as a textual base. From this, he also translated the Gospel of John
and the Book of Acts
. His works were later published in 1989 and 1900 respectively.
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, published in 1909, is the second Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
to be published in any Philippine language
Languages of the Philippines
In the Philippines, there are between 120 and 175 languages, depending on the method of classification. Four languages no longer have any known speakers. Almost all the Philippine languages belong to the Austronesian language family...
, after the Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
which was published in 1905.
As of the first decade of the 21st century, three bible translations in the Ilocano language of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
exist:
- Ti Biblia: based on the American Standard VersionAmerican Standard VersionThe Revised Version, Standard American Edition of the Bible, more commonly known as the American Standard Version , is a version of the Bible that was released in 1901...
and some available Spanish Versions - Naimbag a Damag Biblia: an equivalent translation of the Good News BibleGood News BibleThe Good News Bible , also called the Good News Translation , is an English language translation of the Bible by the American Bible Society, first published as the New Testament under the name Good News for Modern Man in 1966...
based on the Novum Testamentum Graecae and the Biblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaBiblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaThe Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, or ', is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes...
. - Ti Baro a Naimbag a Damag Biblia: An update of the Naimbag a Damag Biblia based on the same versions of the Holy Scriptures.
History
After six years of laborious effort, the American Bible SocietyAmerican Bible Society
The American Bible Society is an interconfessional, non-denominational, nonprofit organization, founded in 1816 in New York City, which publishes, distributes and translates the Bible and provides study aids and other tools to help people engage with the Bible.It is probably best known for its...
and the British and Foreign Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
published the Ilocano New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
in 1904. Simply titled Ti Baro a Tulag Wenno Ti Baro a Testamento ni Apo Tayo a Jesucristo (The New Agreement or the New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ). Though much of the supervision was given as a task to the BFBS
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
, the work was enthusiastically assisted by the different American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Protestant Missionaries in the North
Ilocandia
Ilocandia is the term given to the traditional homeland of the Ilocano people.From the original western strip of Northern Luzon , Ilocandia has spread throughout the Cagayan Valley and some parts of Central Luzon....
. Among the well known translators was Isabelo de los Reyes
Isabelo de los Reyes
Isabelo Florentino De Los Reyes, Sr., also known as Don Belong , was a prominent Filipino politician, writer and labor activist in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was the founder of the Aglipayan Church, an independent Philippine national church...
, the founder of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, who as gaoled in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
during that time.
Five years later, the BFBS
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
finished the translation of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
and gave it the title Ti Daan a Tulag nga Isu ti Umuna a Paset ti Santa Biblia (The Old Teastament which is the First Part of the Holy Bible) thus allowing the final publication of the complete Ilocano Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in 1912. Unlike the two separate versions, the complete Ilocano Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
was simple called Ti Biblia (Ilocano: The Bible).
However, when the Good News Translation or the Today's English Version was punlished in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1966, the Philippine Bible Society commissioned another group of translators translate the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
following the same principles of dynamic equivalence. Thus, the publication of Ti Baro a Tulag ti Naimbag a Damag Biblia (the New Testament of the Good News Bible) came in 1973 and 10 years later the complete Ti Naimbag a Damag Biblia.
During these time also, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, through the Papal
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
Encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
Divino Afflante Spiritu
Divino Afflante Spiritu
Divino Afflante Spiritu is an encyclical letter issued by Pope Pius XII on September 30, 1943. It inaugurated the modern period of Roman Catholic Bible studies by permitting the limited use of modern methods of biblical criticism. The Catholic bible scholar Raymond E...
which has been dubbed as the "Magna Carta for Biblical Progress", opened its doors for its members to study the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
as aggressively as Protestants do. This meant that Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
encouraged that the Roman Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
study the original biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
and Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
). Thus new translators of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
used the original languages as the textual base instead of Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome is a Christian church father, best known for translating the Bible into Latin.Saint Jerome may also refer to:*Jerome of Pavia , Bishop of Pavia...
's Latin Vulgate.
The different Protestant churches welcomed the move as this has been their philosophy since William Tyndale
William Tyndale
William Tyndale was an English scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther...
translated his very first New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
also encouraged a version of the Holy Scriptures to be jointly translated by Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and Protestant scholars, thus giving rise to what they call the Common Bible. Today, the second title (given above) is the most used, as it was approved liturgically not only by the Roman Catholic Church but by many of the other churches as well.
Later in 1990's, the Philippine Bible Society realised a need to revise the Naimbag a Damag Biblia because of further advancement in linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and arcaheological knowledge. Hence the birth of Ti Baro a Naimbag a Damag Biblia (The New Good News Bible). Like the earlier version, it used the original languages as the textual base and was jointly translated by Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and Protestant scholars.
First Parts of the Ilocano Bible
Although the complete Bible was published only in 1909, some fragments of the Holy Bible was translated as soon as the arrival of the Spaniards in the IslandsPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. In 1620, the very first book in Ilocano was published by Rev. Fr. Francisco Lopez. The book was entitled Doctirna Cristiana en la Lengua Española e Yloca which was aimed to be used for catechism. The Book contained a translation of the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
(entitled Amami) and the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
(entitled Daguiti Sangapulo a Bilin).
During the time of the revolution, Don Isabelo de los Reyes
Isabelo de los Reyes
Isabelo Florentino De Los Reyes, Sr., also known as Don Belong , was a prominent Filipino politician, writer and labor activist in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was the founder of the Aglipayan Church, an independent Philippine national church...
, known as the Father of Philippine Socialism, made his translations of the Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
while he was gaoled in Montijuich Castle in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. But because Don Belong
Isabelo de los Reyes
Isabelo Florentino De Los Reyes, Sr., also known as Don Belong , was a prominent Filipino politician, writer and labor activist in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was the founder of the Aglipayan Church, an independent Philippine national church...
was not knowledgeable in the Biblical languages, the BFBS
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
allowed him to use the available Spanish Bibles as a textual base. From this, he also translated the Gospel of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
and the Book of Acts
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
. His works were later published in 1989 and 1900 respectively.
Comparative Chart of the Different Versions
| Translation | John Gospel of John The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus... (Juan) 3:16 |
|---|---|
| Ti Biblia | Ta cata la unay ti panagayat ti Dios iti lubong; nğa intedna ti Anacna a Bugbugtong, tapno amin á mamati kencuana, saan á mapucaw, no di ket adda bigna nğa agnanayon. |
| Ti Baro a Tulag | Gapu iti kasta unay a panagayat ti Dios iti lubong, intedna ti Bugbugtong nga Anakna tapno ti siasinoman a mamati kenkuana saan a matay no di ket agbiag nga agnanayon. |
| Ti Baro a Naimbag a Damag Biblia | Gapu iti kasta unay a panagayat ti Dios iti lubong, intedna ti Bugbugtong nga Anakna tapno ti siasinoman a mamati kenkuana saan a matay no di ket agbiag nga agnanayon. |
External links
- Philippine Bible Society - The Official Website of the Philippine Bible Society
- Divino Afflante Spirtu Text