Yes, You Can!: Listening to the Voice of the Community by Prioritizing Psalms in BT Projects

One of the hallmarks of ethics in Bible translation in recent decades has included the idea that BT projects should be aimed at the needs of the language communities which they serve. External project planners, managers, and even donors should avoid a hegemonic agenda—rather, the community should have the loudest voice in issues such as which books or portions of Scripture to translate, and with which of those books or portions to begin the project. Many communities all around the world clamor to have the Psalms among the first books translated, but they are often discouraged from doing this by project planners, because, they say, the Psalms are simply too difficult to translate and should be postponed until more experience is gained.

Is this response the ethical one? Our paper and presentation examine Psalms: Layer by Layer’s experience with Psalms translation and local arts analysis in brand-new projects to suggest that, in fact, not only *can* projects begin with Psalms, but perhaps even that many *should*. The voice of the community, in asking for Psalms, may be the voice of wisdom that would bring untold benefits to the BT world! We have found that 1) even beginner translators and non-translator musicians can create beautiful, accurate, and captivating translations of the Psalms, right from the start of a project; and 2) these translations, especially in song form, spread like wildfire through a community and draw the community into strong Scripture Engagement before, during, and after the entire translation process. And even for existing BT projects, we give recommendations for how the Psalms can be interspersed throughout the current translation work to bring refreshment to translators and communities alike, as well as a deeper context and understanding of the other biblical portions on which they’re working.