Lead editor of the First Nations Version, Terry Wildman, joins the show to talk about this excited new indigenous translation of the New Testament. For more info on the translation, go to firstnationsversion.com.

TRANSCRIPT

0:01

Welcome to Jessup think I'm your host, Mark Moore

0:03

and your co host, Rex gurney. And Rex, we

0:06

both of us can't be more excited for the show

0:08

today. Exactly.

0:10

We have been waiting for this we are having on Terry Wildman. He's the lead editor of the First Nations version of the New Testament.

0:18

I've been using that version in my personal devotions for months now. And so when I heard we were gonna have him on the show, I just, it's a real privilege to

0:26

be here. Yeah. And as you listen to this show, you're gonna be I think, so excited about this version is put out by InterVarsity press. And it is the New Testament, an indigenous translation of the New Testament, the First Nations version, First Nations version. And you can also go to First Nations version.com, to check it out, to see a sample of it and to see other things. Terry and his wife also do music. You're going to hear all about that on the show. But we just want to promo that in this intro. So that you will check that out. There's such a wonderful translation. And I think you'll really enjoy the show.

1:12

What Terry, we are so excited to have you on the show. Rex and I are both, you know, out of all of our guests. We were we were extremely excited for for the interview. So thank you so much for joining us. Hey, it's great to

1:24

be one reason, thanks.

1:25

One reason I was excited is actually Sherry, I have been using the First Nations version in my personal devotions for about six months now. So when when Mark said we were gonna have you on the show, I was really looking forward to that.

1:40

Yeah, and that was so the the full New Testament has just been released, and then it was released in smaller portions up till now.

1:49

Yeah, a couple about halfway through the project, we released half of the New Testament. I self published it at that time. And, and then InterVarsity press, saw what we're doing and got involved and said, hey, we'd like to publish this. And so we worked out the details.

2:11

That's great. That's great. And, and so what's Yeah, what, maybe self publishing that first part or even how it began, I would love to hear that story of how of how this version took shape.

2:23

Oh, definitely. You know, I'd like to say first of all that, you know, we live in Maricopa, Arizona, and we live on the traditional lands of the Pima, and the tahona. Okay. And so I just like to give that acknowledgement in my podcast. So, you know, the first nation version started. You know, back when I lived, my wife, I live for five years on the Hopi Indian Reservation in northern Arizona. We work with YWAM and with the American Baptists at that time, and that's where the idea, or the first seeds of the idea began. And I discovered a Hopi Bible. And I was very excited. It was in the storage room, and nobody was using them in our church. And so I kind of wondered about that. So I began to ask around this, if somebody could read from the Hopi Bible, and I really couldn't find anyone. And it wasn't until much later, I found one person who was able to read a little bit from that Hopi Bible. And then I discovered my wife and I both discovered that this is basically true across the across turtle liner, which we call North America. And so these and the reason for this is the years of assimilation, government policies, boarding schools. At the same time, the translators were translating the Bible into native languages, other branches of the church got involved with the government, in taking those native languages away from us.

4:00

So working at cross purposes there. Yeah, so it's

4:03

kind of a situation where I'd say over 90% Don't read or speak our language today becaus