c. 1997 Religion News Service

MEVASSERET TZION, Israel _”How can you translate the Bible if you don’t know the language of the Bible and the land of the Bible?” For Halvor Ronning, that question, posed rhetorically to translators, has only one answer:”You can’t.” Ronning, who came to Israel from Chicago 30 years ago, runs the Home for Bible Translators with his Finnish-born wife Mirja. The Home’s mission is simple: to train translators of the Old Testament to produce clear, accurate and”nuanced”translations from the original Hebrew.

The Ronnings _ both in their late 50s _ have a wide field open before them. Of about 6,400 languages spoken in the world today, fewer than 400 can claim a translation of the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of Old Testament translations _”99 percent,”according to Mirja Ronning _ are retranslations, mostly from earlier English, German and French versions.

Halvor Ronning compared such translations to”photocopies of photocopies,”each one lacking a bit more of the focus and clarity of the original.

To pursue its mission, the Home for Bible Translators brings Bible translators from their native countries for a four-month program of Hebrew language studies. The Home provides low-cost lodging and research facilities for up to a dozen translators at a time in a rustic duplex apartment in Mevasseret Tzion, a northwestern suburb of Jerusalem.

Rather than leading classes themselves, the Ronnings _ who regard themselves as”catalysts”_ connect visiting translators to existing study programs, especially those at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

These programs combine language study with weekly field trips throughout the country, giving students the chance to see biblical sites, investigate relevant archeological discoveries, learn the country’s flora and fauna and get a general feel for Israeli Jewish life.

To the Ronnings, who are Bible scholars themselves with graduate degrees in the field from Hebrew University, the tours are as important as the language study, for many biblical verses require specific knowledge of the biblical landscape to be fully understandable.

For example, explained Mirja Ronning, the familiar phrase from Psalm 23:”He makes me lie down in green pastures,”seems to describe the English countryside. But the phrase actually refers to isolated green oases in the barren Judean landscape.”The students begin to understand with their own eyes what the Bible is talking about,”said Yoel Nesson, director of Hebrew University’s Special Programs Division, which customizes classes for the translators.

The Home for Bible Translators opened in March 1994, and so far has hosted translators from Finland, the former Soviet Union and a variety of African nations.

This fall, the Home will bring students from five French-speaking African countries _ Ivory Coast, Togo, Burkina Faso, Chad and Guinea _ to study in Jerusalem.

These French-speaking African Protestants, according to Nesson, are particularly loathe to rely on French translations, which he called”heavily Catholicized.” Isaac Ada, who came to the program last summer from Burkina Faso, called the program”very helpful.””Now I can go into the original text to see the actual language,”said Ada.

However, Ada and other students also noted that their images of the Holy Land are often shattered by the reality of modern Israel.

Some have been surprised that Israel is no longer a pastoral land dominated by shepherds. Others, such as Pierre Barassounon of Benin, also in Africa, have been pleasantly surprised to find that most of Israel is not the war zone depicted in the media.

Barassounon said he was happy to find Israel”calm, quiet and normal.” Bible translation remains a growth industry around the world. The Ivory Coast alone has 60 languages, Halvor Ronning pointed out, and only one of them now has a full Bible translation of both the Hebrew and New Testaments.

Ray Pritz, former director of the Israel Bible Society, estimated that there are currently about 200 ongoing Old Testament translation projects in Africa and 600-700 around the world.

Pritz agreed that the overwhelming majority of these translation projects do not work from the original languages _ Hebrew and a small amount of Aramaic for the Old Testament, Greek for the New Testament. Instead, the translators generally use a”phrase by phrase translator’s handbook,”something like a commentary, written in English or French.

A translation team also works with a part-time consultant who checks the translation for problems. While he calls this system”accurate enough,”Pritz praised both the idea and quality of the Ronnings’ program, into which he too funnels translators and scholars.

The Home for Bible Translators says it is adamantly non-sectarian and non-political.”We give people the text and the facts,”said Mirja Ronning, who came to Israel in 1948 with her Christian Zionist parents.”They make up their own mind about the theology. We don’t teach Zionist history or current events, either. Our business is to get accurate translations.” Nonetheless, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, seeing the translators as helpful to its diplomatic outreach, has encouraged the program by streamlining the visa process for students, according to Nesson of Hebrew University.

For the Ronnings, Bible translation is one of the best fruits of the Jewish state.”Israel teaches agriculture and medicine in many underdeveloped countries, and that’s great,”noted Halvor Ronning.”But what fits this country’s skills and mission more than translation of the Bible?” Both Ronnings are believing Christians, but their mission is translating the Hebrew Bible, not Christian Scripture.”The New Testament is nonsense without some knowledge of the the Old Testament,”Halvor Ronning said bluntly.”You need at least Genesis and Exodus in order to study the New Testament.”

DEA END MARGOLIS