Connecting the Aramaic Culture

00:00
Dempson Lachen
I see people growing in the knowledge of the word. People are reading the word of God and understanding it. And I see so many communities connecting. We see the love of God growing in the churches for each other, coming together as one body. 

00:26
Rich Rudowske
Welcome to the essentially translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible translators. I’m rich Rudowski. 

00:31
Emily Wilson
And I’m Emily Wilson. 

00:32
Rich Rudowske
And it is great to be back in the studio. 

00:35
Emily Wilson
Yeah, no, you’ve been gone forever. 

00:38
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. Thanks to Emily and the production crew for keeping the home fires burning. I guess here on the podcast, we had content that had been recorded in past months, and the last four episodes came out of that. 

00:52
Emily Wilson
It was a bit intense, but we made it. And now we’re back with live. 

00:57
Rich Rudowske
We are back and in November has just arrived here. It’s November 1, as were making the recording here today for this episode coming out here pretty quick. And at the end of the month, November 30, giving Tuesday is this same month, giving Tuesday. And that is what we are talking about today. Not really giving Tuesday, but we’re talking with the folks from Aramaic Bible translation, who is the focus for giving Tuesday this year. And Emily, tell us a little bit about who we talked with. 

01:25
Emily Wilson
All right, so Dempson and Rob are our guests. Both of them serve with Aramaic Bible translation, and they just have such a heart for people having God’s word in their own language. The neo aramaic languages that are around the world, both in the Middle east as well as the diaspora around the US and in Europe, just people who are hungry for God’s word and really with firm, deep roots to their heritage. But we’re really excited for this giving Tuesday. Just an opportunity to partner alongside, raise awareness about the need. These are five different language communities, dialects that are unique, and they all have their New Testament, but that’s only half the story, right? 

02:13
Rich Rudowske
And for these folks in particular, these are language communities that go way back not just to the early days of Christianity, but to recorded human history in the Bible, the Old Testament. These language communities are featured in the Old Testament narratives. Folks like the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, are also called the Babylonians. I mean, these are the folks that find themselves featured in the stories, sometimes not in the best light, but know eventually redeemed by God through Christ as he prophesied. And, yeah, just great to be in partnership with these folks. And we’re excited to have you here from Rob and Dempson. You’ve heard from Rob before. Rob Hilbert’s the executive director of Aramaic Bible translation. 

02:58
Rich Rudowske
It’s been on the podcast before Dempson Lachen is one of the translators working on the neo Assyrian translation, a new translation of the ancient assyrian language for today’s folks. So sit back and relax and enjoy Rob and Dempson. 

03:20
Emily Wilson
So today we are here with Dempson Lachen and Rob Hilbert of Aramaic Bible translation. Welcome to the podcast. 

03:28
Dempson Lachen
Thank you. 

03:28
Rob Hilbert
Thanks for having us. 

03:29
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, it’s great to see you guys. 

03:31
Emily Wilson
So, as you know, this giving Tuesday, November 30, is Aramaic Bible translation focused for Lutheran Bible translators. So wanting to give our listeners an opportunity to get to know you as part of Aramaic Bible translation and all of the work that God is doing through these programs. So can you share a little bit about Aramaic Bible translation and the language communities that are served? 

04:00
Rob Hilbert
Sure. Aramaic Bible translation. Our organization works with five different language groups. So we have assyrian and chaldean projects, and then we also have a group of projects that are known as the Sibelto languages and those are spoken in the Middle east. So there’s five total language communities we are serving. 

04:23
Emily Wilson
Yeah. So the Assyrian and Chaldean. Could you share a little bit about the roots there and the language communities? 

04:32
Dempson Lachen
Yes. So the history of the Assyrian team, the translation began with Dr. Dalia, who lived in Chicago and was a preacher, and he translated the New Testament, took about 15 years. He was encouraged by Esther Madison, the founder of Aramaic Bible translation, and he began to translate the Old Testament afterward. 

05:04
Rob Hilbert
And then the Assyrian language is what’s spoken today is, I guess you would call it, or many people call it, neo syrian or neosyriac, and it’s related to what maybe people would call Assyrian 150 years ago, which would be very different than what’s spoken today. And so although there is a translation of the Assyrian spoken 150 or so years ago that was completed, it’s known as the Ermia Bible or Erme Bible. We are working on the more updated version of Assyrian, a complete Bible translation of Neo Assyrian, if you will. 

05:51
Emily Wilson
So, Dempson, you mentioned Chicago. Could you share a little bit about how that language community settled in that area? How did that all transpire? 

06:01
Dempson Lachen
Yeah. The assyrian community lived in what is known as northern Iraq, western Iran, southeast Turkey and northeast Syria. And they went through a series of genocides. The most notable is the 1915 genocide, which caused the communities to be dispersed. And many of them made their homes in the west. And Chicago and Arizona and California are where you’ll find large hubs of Neo Aramaic speaking Assyrians. 

06:38
Rich Rudowske
So when you talk about the aramaic languages, or assyrian languages, like when I read my Bible, I see these names mentioned, are these related to the languages or the people that we see in the Bible? 

06:51
Dempson Lachen
Yes, very much so. The Assyrian language in the scholarly field is known as northeastern Neo Aramaic, or Nina. And it is the oldest continuously spoken semitic language in the world. Wow. And it is on the brink of endangerment of many of the. It is endangerment, but in the brink of oblivion of many of the dialects that are spoken. The older a language is, the more dialects you’ll find. So about 150 of them have been found to date. And this is why we cover multiple aramaic dialects at Aramaic Bible translation, because of the plethora of dialects that are found. And the assyrian translation, it is a standardized translation to cover a certain number of these dialects. And then Chaldean covers some of the southern ones. 

07:49
Rich Rudowske
Okay. And so if I’m remembering correctly, these are some of the oldest christian churches in the world, then can you talk a little bit about the history of the christian church in the assyrian context? 

08:00
Rob Hilbert
Well, the Orthodox Assyrian church considers itself to be descended from apostle Thomas’s mission work in the region going back to the first century. Now, it’s kind of hard to verify that, but that’s their tradition. And then that has been a church that has been continuously, although it has had some schisms, but it has been continuously going since that time. And then in the region where my grandparents were raised in Ermea, you’ll find Catholic Assyrians, Presbyterian Assyrians, and then today there are a lot of pentecostal Assyrians. So there’s a variety of Christians who are descended from an assyrian heritage today. But that’s largely due to the mission work that was done in the area. So the Presbyterians had a large mission there and they actually are responsible for saving number of lives during the genocide. 

09:07
Rob Hilbert
Growing up, I actually was sent to, or went to a presbyterian church when I was younger. And it’s because of that tradition, the Presbyterians looking out for the Assyrians in the Middle east during that time. 

09:20
Emily Wilson
So could you share a little bit more about the aramaic languages, how it was tied in with what we remember in history in the Bible, and just how it has developed over the years and what the communities have gone through? 

09:35
Dempson Lachen
Yes, we see the history of the Aramaic language very early in the Bible. In fact, Abraham was said to be from Padanaram and or of the Chaldeans. And Assyria is mentioned immediately in the Bible as one of the four rivers that runs through the Garden of Eden. And the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, except for certain passages in Daniel and Ezra. Which are written in a form of Aramaic called Achamed Aramaic. And this was a language that was used by the Jews after the assyrian captivity and after the babylonian captivity and continued on into Jesus’s time. Jesus used many words in Aramaic, waktani as he was on the cross. Talitha kumi is another one, and so on. The apostles used Aramaic. Simon’s name was kipa, which is rock in Aramaic, and so on. Well, also, Aramaic plays importance in. 

10:48
Dempson Lachen
Yes, the New Testament was written in Greek, but the speakers spoke Aramaic. They spoke Greek too, and they spoke Latin, as we know from it was written on Jesus’s cross in those three languages. And we see that there are other translations of the Bible that were early. So the first translation of the New Testament into another language was into Aramaic, called the Pshota. And aramaic targums were a first century translation of parts of the Old Testament into Aramaic. We see how important of a language that Aramaic is related to the Bible’s history. 

11:32
Emily Wilson
I mean, really, it sounds like the Aramaic speaking Church. They were a fundamental beginning, what we know as the followers of the way, early disciples and practitioners of faith. So could you share a little bit about the early church and what has transpired over the centuries that leads to this neo aramaic translation? 

11:56
Dempson Lachen
Yes. In acts chapter two, the Day of Pentecost, one of the languages, or people groups that are that one of the languages that is said to have been heard was those from Mesopotamia. And that’s what we call Beth Nahrain and Assyrian, meaning place of the rivers, referring to the Euphrates and Tigris, where the aramaic language is the central heart of the aramaic languages. And as Rob had said, the Church of the east is a very ancient church, one of the most ancient churches that has survived to this day. And american missionaries went into Ormea in the early 18 hundreds. And Justin Perkins, the most famous missionary for the assyrian people, had gone in and translated a Bible with Mario Kanan and Mar Avraham, and that was published in 1852 at the Ormia area region in what is now western Iran. 

13:08
Dempson Lachen
And that Bible was revised by the American Bible Society in 1893. And that was the Bible that was used up until this day in the assyrian churches, until Dr. Thalia at Aramaic Bible translation translated the New Testament and then began the Old Testament before he passed away. And so for about 150 years from the first Bible and then the revised version 100 years later, we didn’t have a Bible. And the reason that Aramaic Bible translation saw the need for a new translation of the Bible in Assyrian is because, as I had mentioned previously, there’s so many dialects in Assyrian, and when Perkins went into ormia, he had some contact with the mountain Assyrians, as he writes, but it was mainly in that dialect. 

14:07
Dempson Lachen
There was a mosaic translation, and scholarship and manuscripts have advanced so much in the past century, and these are, again, not including things like typeset, the formatting and so on, for reasons that we do need a new translation in digitizing. And so this Bible that Dr. Thalia translated this New Testament was with the most updated scholarship and checked by exegetical consultants and the community. And we have 11,000 of the first printing. And then it took about a three year work to translate the psalms into modern assyrian, and that then was published 10,000 New Testament psalms. And now we’re looking to complete the rest of the Old Testament. 

15:06
Emily Wilson
So, Dempson and Rob, you both got involved in Aramaic Bible translation in different ways, being in different parts of the country, could you share a little bit? How did you get involved? Why are you passionate about the work? 

15:22
Dempson Lachen
Sure. 

15:23
Rob Hilbert
So, for my background, I was a missionary with my family, serving in Africa in two different countries. And we came back to the US because of some health issues that my parents were having, especially my dad. And we felt like we needed to take care of them and not go back to serving in Africa. And then I was asked by David Snyder at LBT to see if I wanted to consider contributing in some way to AbT. And I don’t think at the time that he knew that my heritage was assyrian. So when he brought that to me and mentioned it as a possibility, then I got really excited because seemed like it was meant to be, since my grandparents are both from the regions that were discussing, or Mia, and had fled the genocide and then come to America and settled in. 

16:25
Rob Hilbert
You know, I was very familiar with the language, and although I don’t speak it and familiar with the culture and the heritage, so, yeah, I felt very inspired to take on and contribute in whatever way I could. And so being a part of the organization, my title is executive director, but I feel like I’m there to just help out in whatever way I can. And that gives me a lot of joy, is just being involved in the process and in the translation in my small way, and being able to contribute how I can, because I do really believe in the project and think that it will, once it’s finished, do some really great things for the community. So that gives me a lot of joy. 

17:11
Dempson Lachen
Yeah, I was really fortunate to have been raised studying the scriptures and was something that my parents emphasized. And I remember one day I was evangelizing with some friends, and I ran into an assyrian gentleman at the local coffee shop, and he didn’t speak English. So I was translating the evangelism packet into Assyrian. And I remember two words specifically that I had encountered, and those were righteousness and justification. And I didn’t know how to say them in Assyrian. So that evening I went home and I was searching in the Bible for the words, and I learned them. And one thing led to another, and I read the New Testament in Assyrian. And somebody at my mother’s funeral had brought me a syrian Bible that was the one that was translated by Dr. Thalio that I had mentioned. And as a gift to me. 

18:11
Dempson Lachen
And seeing the work that was done really inspired me. And I was just in awe of the work that God was doing at Aramaic Bible translation. And it was my last year of undergraduate studies in business, and I knew that I wanted to learn the scriptures better in the original languages, in Assyrian. And I began sending suggestions to Aramaic. Baba translation on, feedback on the translation. And they were very kind to me. And I remember the late Rabi Homer Ashriyan visiting, and we spoke with each other, and I didn’t deserve to work with the team, and there were just so many brilliant scholars, and I was a novice, and Robbie Homer, Austrian, was very kind to invite me to study and work under him. 

19:10
Dempson Lachen
And I immediately went into graduate studies into studying linguistics, and have just been very fortunate with a lot of people being patient and teaching me. And so it’s been about 1516 years now since I’ve been working with Abt and studying the original languages and helping out. And there have been so many great scholars that have worked on the translation, that have taught me and just been really fortunate to work with them and to have this opportunity. 

19:43
Rich Rudowske
So, Dempson, when you think back that first reading, that New Testament that you received, and really kind of digging into scripture in your own language, what are some of the things that stand out that just like you experienced them differently, reading them that way, than you may have understood them before? 

20:00
Dempson Lachen
The aramaic language is very unique because it is the language, as we said, of Christ, and it is the language of portions of the Bible and early translations of the Bible. And it is also semitic language. So it’s very close to Hebrew. And I remember after studying Syriac under my coworker, who was professor of Syriac, Abdul Masi Sa’adi, brilliant scholar. And I remember the next semester I taken Hebrew, and I said, this is almost the same thing as Syriac. I remember a lot of the words that are used, seeing them and being able to recognize them from the usages in English. For example, Shwaktani in the old Aramaic, we say today shuikenuk. And it’s very close to each other. 

20:57
Dempson Lachen
And seeing these just, it’s been a blessing, I think the English says Hakodama when he talks about the field that was bought, the field of blood in acts. And we say, for example, very similar to each other. And actually the first part of my name means blood dem, and second part is seen is ancient assertion. It means moon, but it’s also that same field of blood that Peter is talking about. So these things really stood out to me, like learning that and seeing how close my native language is and the development of it from the ancient Aramaic. 

21:45
Rich Rudowske
So as you do your work, what gives you the most joy? You’ve been doing this, like you said, for like 16 years now. So what really gives you joy in your work in Bible translation? 

21:55
Dempson Lachen
What gives me joy is when I hear from people how much the scriptures have blessed them, when I hear the excitement when they see the scripture digitized and for example, on you version. I read recently about the joy that the assyrian community in early 18 hundreds had when they saw their language first printed and they had brought a printing press from America to Ormea. And seeing today the Bible digitized and people reading from it and lives being changed and hearing testimonies and people using the scripture. This is what gives me the most joy, seeing lives changed and people reading the scripture in their own native language, in their mother tongue. 

22:55
Emily Wilson
That’s really powerful. Rob, have you had similar stories that you’ve heard in other aramaic language communities of similar impact and lives transformed? 

23:08
Rob Hilbert
Well, I have actually kind of a different experience. So when my mother and uncle were growing up, they weren’t able to learn assyrian, although their parents spoke it. And that always felt like that was kind of a let down. And so I myself also was never really exposed to it except the occasional words that my grandma would say. And so I kind of regret that. But I did not grow up with the assyrian speaking community. For me, it was really kind of distant. I knew that it was my heritage and culturally I identified with it, but I wasn’t around other assyrian speakers. And that was kind of disappointing as an adult to not have been exposed to that, even though I grew up in Chicago and there were plenty of people around, but we just weren’t connected to it for some reason. 

24:08
Rob Hilbert
So, yeah, that’s kind of disappointing, but at the same time, since I’ve been around Abt, I’ve come to find out that Assyrians still being taught in the communities in America. So there are people who are still eager to learn the language, even in America, not just the Middle east. And in fact, I believe Atur someone who, one of the other translators with Abt, who works with Dempson, he teaches Assyrian, is that right? 

24:37
Dempson Lachen
Dempson? 

24:38
Rob Hilbert
Isn’t he a tutor? 

24:39
Dempson Lachen
Yes. 

24:39
Rob Hilbert
Or assyrian. 

24:40
Dempson Lachen
Yeah. 

24:41
Rob Hilbert
So it’s still something that people really want to study and want to learn, and I find that to be a really positive indicator of the strength of the language and the culture, even generations removed from the generation that immigrated from the Middle east. So, yeah, the culture is very strong, but that one generation, I think right after the genocide, they did not necessarily want to continue being a part of the assyrian culture and identify with being assyrian, but they wanted to make the transition to being considered american, and that caused a bit of cultural loss. But with today’s society being much more open to other cultures, other languages and people coming from other places in the United States, it’s a much more open environment and a much more conducive environment to maintaining cultural elements and different languages. 

25:47
Rob Hilbert
So, yeah, there have been a lot of positive things happening with the language and the community in the United States. 

25:55
Emily Wilson
Why would you consider it really important for the aramaic speaking congregations around the world to have the full bible? Because right now they have New Testament and psalms, and then they can access scripture, maybe in another language. But why is it so impactful to have the full Bible in their language? 

26:17
Rob Hilbert
Can I just say one thing just really quickly with related to that? I’m sure Dempson has something maybe more interesting to say, but just for this little vignette thing that I wanted to say is that my uncle, he kind of instilled this outlook in me with regards to the Assyrians in the Old Testament. So the Assyrians throughout the Old Testament, while in Genesis, are kind of shown to be the bad guys, if you will. They’re kind of like the group that people that everybody’s afraid of. And I guess historically there was good reason for that, definitely because they were pretty vicious warriors, and coming from Ashor, they just kind of conquered Mesopotamia, Egypt and parts of Turkey. So, yeah, they were fierce warriors and their empire lasted for a very long time. 

27:13
Rob Hilbert
But when the empire collapsed, probably for a number of reasons, maybe it was the Lord’s will, but the Assyrians then were among the first groups to embrace Christianity. So it was a point of pride for a lot of Assyrians to see us playing a prominent role in the Old Testament. But then also, it’s almost like a form of penance, I guess, to be then also among the first groups to accept Christianity and then maintaining that faith despite all of the hardships, being minority groups throughout the Middle east, surrounded by antagonistic people, culminating in genocide in the early 20th century. So that faith was maintained throughout all those centuries. So, yeah, I think that because of our history being mentioned in the Old Testament especially, it’s especially important to Assyrians to have that translated. 

28:16
Dempson Lachen
Yeah. Recently, the church that I visited in Los Angeles, they were preaching from Jonah and one of the fellowship groups, and our pastor here in central California is about to begin Jonah next week for the Sunday evening service. And I felt the Lord speaking to me of how much he loves the assyrian people and how much he cares for the assyrian people. And you see his heart in the book of Jonah, and it’s not just for Assyrians, but that’s God’s heart for everybody. He doesn’t want anybody to perish, but all to come to the knowledge of the truth and to be saved. And Jesus expounded on the Rotimaeus from the whole Old Testament, and the whole Old Testament is pointing towards the Messiah. 

29:10
Dempson Lachen
And it is true that the psalms are the most quoted in the New Testament and that we do have a translation of the psalms in modern Assyrian. But books like Isaiah and Deuteronomy, which are the next most quoted books in the New Testament, these are very vital to New Testament understanding of the New Testament also along with the other books. And we at Abt are working on digitizing and printing not only the 1852 translation of the ormia, that was done the 1893, but also the ancient Aramaic shuta in the eastern text, in a new translation of the Bible. For Assyrians today, they’re all coming together. The dialects are mixing, as Rob said. The communities are now different dialect groups. 

30:01
Dempson Lachen
Here in Turlock and Modesto area, we have Assyrians from Tiara and Bedwar and Gilu and Boz and Urmi and so on, and they’re mixing with each other. The language is unifying. And the late Rabbi Homer Ashrian would always tell me that languages are like clouds. They’re ever changing. And this is work that is done every century. For every century, there’s this work done, and we’re thankful to God that he’s given us the opportunity to work on it and the ability. It’s all from God. The proverbs are very important to assyrian people. I remember my grandmother would love the proverbs, and it took a year to translate that with Robbie Homer. And yet we’re really thankful for all the support that has been given, and we’re very thankful for LBT interested in this project to bring the Old Testament to the assyrian people. 

31:12
Dempson Lachen
And so far we’ve translated. In fact, we’re going through the word list. It was about 37,000 words. We’re down now to 125 to be able to print Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy, Joshua, judges, Ruth, 1st, 2nd Samuel, first kings, Ezra, Esther, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, and Daniel, God willing, and Jonah. But the rest of the Old Testament hasn’t been translated, and this has been a work that I’ve been part of 15 years, but others have labored much more earlier 25 years. And it is a work that we have faith that if God started his work, that he will complete it. It is our joy to work for the Lord for however long he allows us to work for him. 

32:10
Emily Wilson
Labor of the heart, for sure. 

32:12
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. 

32:13
Emily Wilson
So you’ve seen a lot over the past 15 years. Have you seen the Lord working through aramaic Bible translations specifically? 

32:23
Dempson Lachen
I see people growing in the knowledge of the word. I see testimonies where people are reading the word of God and understanding it, and I see so many communities connecting. And right now, for the past three years, the Assyrian Evangelical Church of San Jose and the Assyrian St. John’s Assyrian Presbyterian Church of Turlock, and the church that Dr. Thalia preached at, the Assyrian Christian Church of Chicago, have been supporting us. And now we have a fourth church, the Assyrian Presbyterian Church of San Jose. And we see the love of God growing in the churches for each other, coming together as one body. I think we’re all going to be in heaven together one day, worshipping the Lord. And this is one church, really, and it’s God’s church. Yeah. 

33:22
Rich Rudowske
So talk a little bit about the program. Ultimately, what are the hope for results of this program? What could be next for aramaic? Bible translation? For the Assyrian Bible translation program, particularly. 

33:34
Dempson Lachen
Recently, I’ve been reading books on the missionaries that went into ormia and labor there, and I see that from the printing press, they had done works like Pilgrim’s Progress, shepherd of Salisbury, and commentary on Genesis, commentary on Matthew, and they did a lot of great. So it is a vision of abt to print, reprint and digitize and have in a format where people can copy and paste and text message each other, email each other, use it on PowerPoint. 

34:12
Dempson Lachen
But to have this 1852 translation, the 1893 revised, a new translation and the translation of the Bible called the Pshota, which is the first translation of the New Testament into any language, the ancient translation, to have that digitized in a nice eastern font and to be able to use these on a digital platform, but also in the future, then to record, have the Bible read and to have a recording of that for people who can’t read assyrian, to be able to hear the scripture. And that is one of the most requested items that we get. People want to hear the scripture in their language. There’s a lot of work to do. Our Lord said, the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. Pray that the Lord of harvest would send laborers into the field. And we’re praying and we praise God. 

35:12
Dempson Lachen
Actually, when I was in Los Angeles past week, were able to find a new reader to help us in reading the scripture and reading back and checking, and we prayed so much for people like you at LBT to get the word out for the assyrian translation, and we’re thankful to you. And our vision is to see helps to put out a hymn book and all the old hymns and new worship songs where the different churches can use them together. And if they want to change a word or a note or so on, they have access to do that and to put out children’s books. And we want to see this Bible in every assyrian family’s home very much. 

36:03
Rich Rudowske
And I love what you’re describing as the goals for the program, because really, for people who have experienced trauma and displacement like the Assyrians, have the long standing history, to have access to that first Bible translation, that old work, that to have your faith deeply rooted in that, but also to have access to something new and fresh, it’s just a great combination. And that any of us in uncertain times like we live in the world, I guess the world’s probably always had basically uncertain times, right? Exactly right. But to have access to God’s word in a way that speaks like fresh to you now and then, access to your history and your roots, and to see how God’s been at work in the past, just what a beautiful goal. 

36:48
Rich Rudowske
And really here at Lutheran Bible translators, we are so thrilled to be working with you as well to help make these things possible. Myself personally, I’m a history nut, so I just love the idea that we get to work with folks who the first Bible translation ever done of the New testament was in this language. And yet God, as the world has turned and moved, has enabled us to once again to reengage and to have a fresh expression of his word in that language. So wonderful. So thanks for the privilege of being able to work with you guys on that as well. 

37:21
Emily Wilson
And how can we be praying for you? Our listeners be praying for you at Aramaic Bible translation well, certainly for good health going forward. 

37:32
Rob Hilbert
We’ve had a number of losses over the year, and we’re still kind of reeling from those. So we would appreciate prayer that we can keep everybody in good health so that we can continue the work. We’re also searching for a replacement for some of the people that we’ve lost. So we appreciate your prayers on the process, the search for finding people to help us going forward. 

38:03
Dempson Lachen
I want to share something with you. So the second Ormia translation, as I was working at AbT on and off for ten years, it took me about ten years to type the entire old and New Testament. And recently I was at my coworker author’s home. We’re working on the translation. And he showed me an OCR project that Hume was working on, that I had no idea about. And then I asked him, I said, would you be able to ocr the first translation of the army? And he said, it’s about the printing, the typeset that’s used. If you can give me 200 pages only typed, I can run the rest of an OCR. And I was thinking a work that would take probably the same amount of time can be done much faster. And I just think it reminded me that this is God’s work. 

39:11
Dempson Lachen
What God can do in a second, we can’t do in lifetime. What God does when we pray to him, it’s his work. And we’re just as the Lord taught us in the parable, I believe in Luke. We’re unworthy servants, and we’ve just done our duty. And I’m really thankful to God, and we all are, that he’s given us this joy to do this work. 

39:42
Rich Rudowske
Well, thank you very much for your time with us today, for the work that you’re doing. We definitely pray for God to continue to bless that work. And as you said, it’s just a privilege to be involved in it, in God’s work. So thanks for your time today. Great talking with you both. 

39:56
Dempson Lachen
Yes, thank you both for your. 

40:03
Rich Rudowske
Know, I just really loved the passion that Rob and Dempson have. And you know, Dempson, such a great guy with great stories, his sincerity and passion for the work and humility and thankfulness to be involved in what God’s doing, just so captivating. And again, that’s just one of the great parts of being in partnership with Aramaic Bible translation to help make the word of God in the whole word of God, available to them in a fresh expression. But one of the things that really captured my attention was they talked about the pride they have, that the Assyrians were some of the first groups. So Rob and Dempson, both are Assyrian by descent and the first groups to become Christian. And it goes back to Isaiah 19. So God’s always fulfilling prophecy. In Isaiah 1923 to 25, I’ll just catch the end of 25. 

40:57
Rich Rudowske
The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, blessed be Egypt, my people, Assyria, my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance. And at the time that Isaiah is writing like, nobody thinks of Assyria as a blessing or God’s handiwork. They’re the most vicious people on the face of the earth. Yet already, even in that time when they were in that state, God’s prophesying, like, these folks are going to be my people. And that prophecy came true. And the same people who were fierce as warriors became fierce in their faith and going through a lot of adversity from then until now, it’s very true. 

41:33
Emily Wilson
It just shows to the power of God’s word and the power of having Jesus in the incarnation of God and as man and living in these cultures and preaching and reaching them right where they were. It’s just how it transformed communities and cultures and just. 

41:52
Rich Rudowske
I’m personally humbled to think that these folks like the original languages that Jesus is speaking. And some of the, when you read the english versions, the writers translate, well, they said this in Aramaic. And he’s like, okay, yeah, I know that word. Just so humbling. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he talks about those who are coming into the faith who he says they are grafted, know, should be humble. And that original context was like, the Jews were God’s chosen people, but he had the gentiles come in when some of the Jews rejected them. And I would say then, for myself, as a Christian of european descent, like, even after this, so then some of those original first christians were these folks. And I’m just humbled to be able to work alongside them. 

42:39
Emily Wilson
Yeah, it is powerful. And we want you to join the story this giving Tuesday. So, November 30, mark your calendars. Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to slow it down. All of what our culture is trying to say of, like, bye, bye with Black Friday. While giving Tuesday exists to support our communities, support ministries around the world. And so this giving Tuesday, Lutheran Bible translators is partnered with Aramaic Bible translation to make God’s word accessible to people in these neo aramaic languages. So we want to encourage you to stop by and visit lbt.org givingtuesday to learn about the programs, but also to prayerfully or financially support them. November 30 follow us through social media. Get all the latest yeah to put. 

43:35
Rich Rudowske
God’s word in their hands as even on the aramaic script on the giving Tuesday logo tells us to encourages us to put God’s word in their hands, to share the same gift that we have when we really stop and think about it, what a gift that God’s word is to us, those moments that we’ve had where God really spoke to us and maybe changed the trajectory of our life for a major way, or even just a minor but meaningful way, we have the opportunity to help give that gift of scripture to others as well. And in a way, that’s kind of what giving Tuesday is about. To take a moment in a holiday season that’s really focused on it is focused on giving, but on material, and to say, okay, let’s give something that is really meaningful, something that’s going to last forever. 

44:18
Emily Wilson
Giving the gift of God’s word is eternal. 

44:21
Rich Rudowske
Lbt.org givingtuesday thank you for listening to the essentially translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible translators. You can find past episodes of the podcast@lbt.org Slash podcast or subscribe on audible, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow lutheran Bible translators social media channels on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Or go to lbt.org to find out how you can get involved in the Bible translation movement and put God’s word in their hands. This episode of the centrally translatable was produced and edited by Andrew Olson. Our executive producer is Emily Wilson. Podcast artwork is designed by Caleb Rotewald. Music written and performed by Rob Weit. I’m Rich Rudowski. So long. For now.