I am a Bible minister,
serving the Lord in the "office of a bishop" (1 Timothy 3:1 KJB).
I've been serving the Lord for decades. I love the word of God so much that I
did have a burden to make a new translation based on the King James Bible.
I love the King James
Bible and I believe it is "the inspired and preserved word of God".
No doubts about it. Even though many have criticized and disliked the King
James Bible because of its archaic words (as what they call it), the King James
Bible is still firm and unmoved, still the "pure word" of God for all
peoples and all ages. Many have made a modern version because they want their
contemporaries to understand the Word of God in their own conversational
language. But the problem is they watered down the gospel and made it shallow.
They have changed the text of the Bible and made it not a word-for-word
translation but a thought-for-thought translation. The original thought and
message is no more communicated.
My purpose in making a
new translation is to make the King James Bible accessible and comprehensible
to my fellow Tagalog speaking people in the 21st century. That’s why it is
named “Ang Bibliyang Tagalog King James Bible” (The Tagalog Bible King James
Bible). It is a direct translation from the King James Bible and not from
Greek, Latin or any Bible versions before the King James Bible.
Why did I make a new
translation? Because here in my country, we have lots of Tagalog translations
of the Bible such as the Tagalog Popular Version popularly known as “Ang
Magandang Balita Biblia”, which is a Tagalog translation of “Today’s English
Version”, and also the “Ang Biblia” which is good translation of the Bible
which some parts are based on the King James Bible and others from the American
Standard Version. There are also other versions. But these two Tagalog versions
are the most popular and common. I have preferred to use and teach though the
“Ang Biblia” because it is the closest Tagalog version to the King James Bible.
But there are parts in it that I don’t like because they differ from the King
James Bible, so I decided to make a new Tagalog translation to faithfully and
accurately translate the English King James Bible into my conversational
language.
I know that there are also
other fellow Bible believers here in the Philippines who are doing the same
thing and one of them is my friend Tim Liwanag. He also translated the King
James Bible into Tagalog. I have not yet seen a copy of his translation, but
what he did inspired me to do the same. And now at last, I have translated in
one year the “Pauline epistles”, which are 14 epistles: Romans to Hebrews.
Well, some of you may say it is only 13, but I think it doesn’t matter. I just
believe that it is 14 because God is perfect and his word is perfect, and he
has a perfect number. I mean when it comes to numbering and counting, God is
perfect and he has reasons why he does. For instance, God created for 6 days
and rested on the 7th day. The number seven is the number of “perfection” and
“fulfillment”. The word “perfect” is 7 letters. The Greek word “πληρωμα” is 7
letters. The English of plëroma, the word “fulness” (not the American fullness)
is 7 letters. Paul the apostle wrote his first 7 letters and then wrote his
next 7 letters. So they are 14 letters. Number 14 is 7 times 2. And it is the
number of “salvation” and “deliverance”. I have lots of examples but this is
not the time to talk about them. What I mean is that God is perfect even in
numbering.
Translation work is
not easy. If you are a translator, you have to give so much time in studying
and researching. You have to compare different translations. Honestly speaking,
even though I am a King James Bible believer and believe that the King James
Bible is the word of God, I also consulted some Greek and Hebrew study aids
such as dictionaries and concordances of Vine’s, Strong’s and others. I also
used Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary. I used English-Tagalog and Tagalog-English
dictionaries. I am not complete in materials so I used also some e-books and
internet resources. Though I used all these things, the King James Bible is
still the final authority.
There are words that I
did not change so much. The word “bishop” is translated as “tagapagsuri” , or
retained to “obispo”, and not “tagapangasiwa” because that word I assigned to
“overseer”. Yes, bishop and overseer may be the same but the King James
translators used different words to emphasize things. Another word is
“covenant”. I translated it as “kasunduan”. For the word “testament”, I use the
word “tipan”. You may say that the words “covenant” and “testament” are the
same but the King James Bible differentiates between the two, “the new
covenant” and “the new testament”. And they are really different from each
other.
I translated the word
“servant” as “lingkod” instead of “alipin” which is “slave”. Tagalog Bibles
translated the word “servant” as “alipin” but it is inaccurate, although there
the word “slave” in some parts may also mean “alipin” or “slave”.
Because this
translation is in the 21st century, I use the language of the day, the
conversational Tagalog, the words we use daily but still faithful to the text.
I am using old Tagalog alphabet of abakada. In this translation I don’t use the
letters “C”, “F”, “J”, “Q”, “V”, “X” and “Z”.
For example, the name Jesus Christ is transcribed as “Iesu Krestos” and
not Jesucristo. KRESTOS from CHRESTOS is used for CHRIST, for he is the “Virtuous
One”. I used “K” instead of “C”. The name “Jesus” in my translation is not
pronounced as “He-sus” but it is “I-E-SUS” or “EE-SUS”. The name John is not
transcribed as “Juan” but “Yohanan”. I tried to make it as closer as the King
James Bible names and characters. I transcribed the name “Paul” into “Paulo”
from Latin PAVLVS and Greek παυλος which if transcribed is Pavlos. The name
“Timothy” is translated as “Timoteyo” just like the Spanish, but “Timotheus” is
“Timoteyos”. The word “God” is translated as “Bathala” and not “Dios”. Bathala
is the title of God in Tagalog. In every country, there are titles for God,
just as in Greek God is theos, in Latin is Deus, in Spanish is Dios and in
English is God. So why not translate this word God in our own language, which
is “Bathala”?
As I said, the
translation work is not easy. Because I could not focus on translating day and
night. If I did, I and my family won’t eat. I have to work for a living to
support my family’s needs and also to support my own ministry. But I made
sacrifices. There are times that I am so tired and sleepy because of whole
day’s work but I still sit before my computer and type. I have no sponsors or
financial supporters to support me for this ministry and my other ministries.
But thanks be to God, the Pauline epistles are done! Praise the Lord Jesus
Christ!
I am continuing in
this translation work, now beginning with the epistle of James up to the epistle
of Jude. After that, I will work on the Book of Revelation, and then Acts, and
finally the Gospels. I hope that I can make it for a year or two. I just wanted
to present this work to the Lord for the benefit of my fellow Tagalog speaking
people. And one thing, this is not for sale. I wanted to make this translation
free for everyone. I have the PDF version. And now, I created this blog for you
to read it online and download it for free.
I believe that the
revelation of God is complete. That’s why we have now the Holy Bible in the
King James Bible 1611 and 1769. My translation is a Tagalog translation of the
King James Bible. I will use it hand-in-hand with the King James Bible. Well,
we the people of this archipelago are also speaking English, though not the
Elizabethan English. We are fluent in the command of the English language.
Among Asians, we are the best and articulate in speaking English. It is our
secondary language and also the medium of communication, especially now in the
cyber-age, English is the medium as I am using right now. I don’t believe in
the lies of modern versionists that the King James Bible is hard to understand.
No! It may be at the beginning, but as you read and read and read you will see
it is very simple. The King James Bible is the Word of God for all peoples and
for all ages, yeah even for kids. It is the easiest Bible to memorize compared
to other translations. It has words shorter than the modern versions. For example,
the KJB’s Ephesians 6: 4 is this: “”And, ye fathers, provoke not your children
to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Look at
NIV: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the
training and instruction of the Lord”.
The KJB uses “provoke” but the NIV uses “exasperate”. Which is easier?
The NIV makes it more harder to understand.
We can understand
English. But unfortunately, the lies go viral and Tagalog Christians have also
accepted that lie that KJB is so hard to understand. They just want to
understand easily. The Bible is not like that. In order to understand the Bible
we have to “Study”.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
We have to study the
word of God. It means we have to spend time reading and meditating on it. As
Paul said to Timothy: “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them”
(1 Tim. 4:15). And to Philippians: “God shall reveal even this unto you” (Phil.
3:15). The Bible is not like any other books that humans made. The words
therein are the “teachings of the Holy Ghost” and they are “spiritually
discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14), therefore we have to compare “spiritual things with spiritual”
(1 Cor. 2:13). It means compare the word of God with the word of God. Compare
scripture with scripture in order for us to understand. And there the Holy
Ghost will give us illumination and light will pop up, and we say “Eureka!”.
The Bible is so rich
and it is all sufficient. We have to dig and dig more in order for us to find
more treasures in God’s word. This is what I’ve learned as I translate the King
James Bible into Tagalog: I discover new things; I learn new things that I
didn’t know before. I saw the meanings of the verses that I didn’t see before
even though I was reading that same verse again and again. So now, I am
continuing to learn and unlearn. I am unlearning everything I have learned from
my former religion and denominations. I am now free and independent, believing
only the teachings of the Word of God. My fellow King James Bible believers may
not yet understand my position at present, but sooner or later they will also
see “the glorious” truths of the Holy Scriptures that they will never learn
from religion or traditional, institutional and denominational Christianity.
My work as a
translator is not yet finished. I still have so much to learn and still so much
to bear for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In my work, I just want to
publish the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name above every name and his
word which he has magnified above all his name:
IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT
QUICKENETH; THE FLESH PROFITETH NOTHING: THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU, THEY
ARE SPIRIT, AND THEY ARE LIFE. (JOHN 6:63 KJB)
To the ONE GOD THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST alone be all the glory!
Pleroma Revelation Bible
Ministry
www.fullrevelationbible.blogspot.com
