Tag Archives: Psalms

Northern Translation Brief 30Jan2024

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Our Dear Partners,

In the early spring of 2019, the Naskapi church and community celebrated the publication and dedication of the book of Psalms in the Naskapi language. It was printed in regular and large-print sizes, in paperback and hardcover. You can read the story about that celebration in our Northern Translation Brief at this link.

CJCK Naskapi “Northern Wind” Radio Station at Kawawachikamach

At the local Naskapi language radio station, for years there has been a regular program of Naskapi language Bible readings broadcast in the community. It began with readings from the book of Genesis in 2004 by the late elder Joseph Guanish. When the Naskapi New Testament was published in 2007, we were completing the collection of Gospels and Epistles, and releasing these for radio airplay as they were finished. The collection of radio programs included the entire New Testament by 2008.

Last year, when the Naskapi book of Exodus was published, all of the Exodus radio programs were also completed and released simultaneously at the Exodus dedication. But the audio recording of the Psalms, the longest book* in the Bible, was still a work in progress.

The book of Psalms
150 chapters
2461 verses
20,225 words (in Naskapi)
395 minutes (of reading in Naskapi, or about 6-1/2 hours)

* In the Hebrew Bible, Jeremiah and Genesis have a slightly greater number of words than the Psalms, but Psalms has, by far, the most verses and chapters. In any case, it’s a substantial work however you count it.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Silas Nabinicaboo, one of the Naskapi translators, worked with me over Zoom and we devised a method of producing a good quality digital recording of the reading of the scriptures. In March of 2021, Silas began to record the book of Psalms, starting with Psalm 1. He was able to complete several chapters at a sitting, when they were short ones.

By August 2021, we celebrated Silas completing the recording of Psalm 75, halfway through.

By October 2021, Silas completed the “raw” recording of the entire book of Psalms: this took about 9 months altogether.

Recording Psalms with Silas over Zoom

A “raw” original recording is what you get when you read into a recorder. If the phone rings, or there’s a knock at the door, all of these things get recorded. If you cough, or stutter or mispronounce inadvertently, all of these sounds are recorded as well. So the recording goes through a careful editing process, during which we listen to each chapter, and compare what is heard on the recording with the words that are actually on the translated page. We “edit” the sounds by removing all the noises, corrections and false starts. Silas is a good reader, and he very faithfully would repeat a phrase or a line or an entire verse in the “raw” recording until he got it right.

I began to edit the audio files for the book of Psalms as soon as Silas had completed the first chapter, in March of 2021. But his recording progress outpaced my editing work.

By August 2021, I had completed the editing and mastering for the first 25 Psalms, and these were delivered to Naskapi Radio for airplay as two 30-minute radio programs.

By January 2022, I had finished two more radio programs, which included all the Psalms up to Psalm 44.

Fitting in the audio editing and mastering tasks in between other language project work and responsibilities, I was able to complete the Naskapi Psalms radio programs up through Psalm 93 by January of 2023.

And now (January 2024), I completed the rest of the book, finishing the audio for all 150 Psalms in Naskapi, presented in 15 separate 30-minute radio programs.

Besides being played on-air on the local Naskapi radio station, all of the Naskapi Bible reading episodes are available to download on the Internet and played as “podcasts” on people’s phones, tablets and computers. The link is shared on the Naskapi Radio Facebook page, but if you care to have a listen yourself, you can click this link for the whole collection.

Video tutorial for Scripture audio editing and mastering

It is our usual practice to train others to gain the skills and capacity to do the technical language-project related work. In that spirit, I have created a YouTube “How To” video to help train other Naskapi speakers to do the audio editing process and prepare Scripture radio programs and podcasts. You can sample this video yourself at this link.

Thank you for celebrating this milestone of the Naskapi language having access to the entire book of Psalms read aloud in their language. Thank you for praying for us, as we note this answer to your prayers, with the book of Psalms joining the growing collection of the Scriptures accessible in Naskapi, along with the New Testament, Genesis and Exodus.

Please continue to pray for us and our ongoing work with the Naskapi team, working on:

  • Consultant-checking the book of Judges
  • First Draft on the book of 1 Kings
  • Second edition revision of the Naskapi Dictionary
  • Ongoing capacity-building, curriculum development and Naskapi literacy and teacher-training

Serving with you,
Bill and Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief: Dedication of Naskapi Exodus

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Our Dear Partners,

The book of Exodus in the Naskapi language was launched and dedicated to the glory of God in the community of Kawawachikamach in northern Quebec on Sunday, September 24, 2023 in the morning church service at St. John’s Church.

Naskapi Translation Committee–1996
(Back Row) George Guanish, Peter Einish, Isaac Einish, Jimmy-James Einish,
Philip Einish, Silas Nabinicaboo.
(Front Row) Alma Chemagansh, Mary Mokoush, Sampson Einish, Bill Jancewicz

Story of the Naskapi Exodus Translation Project

After beginning with a new Naskapi translation of stories of the Life of Jesus in the early 1990s, training was provided to several Naskapi persons interested in Bible Translation and Naskapi language development. Peter Einish was one of the young Naskapi men who received this training at this time. He was encouraged by the local Anglican rector, Father David Phillips, who was serving in the Naskapi community. As a team, Father David worked with Peter to help him to begin translating the book of Exodus in 1997. His colleague Silas was already working with Bill on the book of Genesis by this time.

Peter and Father David were able to complete the first half of the book of Exodus by the time Father David transferred to another parish in 1999.

Naskapi Elders reviewing the draft of their New Testament in 2005

In the early 2000s, it was decided to shift translation priorities to work on the Sunday Lectionary Readings and the Naskapi New Testament. So the Old Testament projects of Genesis and Exodus were put on the shelf for about a decade, until the Naskapi New Testament was published and distributed in the community in September 2007.

Naskapi children and lay-reader Minnie Mameanskum at the New Testament dedication in 2007

After the New Testament was dedicated, we turned our attention back to the Old Testament books that were started in the 1990s. The translation and checking of the book of Genesis was completed in 2012, mainly by Naskapi translator Silas Nabinicaboo and elder Joseph Guanish.

The late elder Joseph Guanish with his large-print copy of the book of Genesis at the dedication in 2013

While Genesis was being completed, it was decided to resume work on Exodus. In 2010, Tshiueten Vachon, a grandson of Joseph Guanish, began work revising what Peter had translated in the 1990s. Tshiueten was also enrolled in the Naskapi-McGill teacher training program, in which he received grammar-based Naskapi language training, and formed the core of a new generation of Naskapi translators.

Tshiueten at work in 2015

Tshiueten completed the remaining half of the book of Exodus, and it was ready to be checked by a translation consultant in 2016. Our friend and co-worker Watson Williams, who had served the Naskapi team as translation consultant for the New Testament, returned to Kawawachikamach and worked with the translation team to ensure the textual accuracy of the translation.

Silas, Tshiueten, and Watson working through the consultant-check of the book of Exodus at Kawawa in 2016

The translation of the Sunday Lectionary Bible readings was an important project during this period, and the readings each week included selections from the Psalms. Silas and Joe worked through this longest book in the Bible, using legacy translations from the Cree language prayer books as one of their primary source texts. When interns Alice and Martin Reed served in the Naskapi community prior to their first field assignment in Cree, they assisted the translation team in bringing the book of Psalms to completion.

The Naskapi book of Psalms was dedicated in March of 2019

As a result of the Exodus consultant check in 2016, there remained some additional things to do to make the translation more clear, accurate and natural. Silas stepped in to help with the revision of Exodus, doing two complete read-throughs of the whole book in 2018 and 2022. Then, checking copies of the book were reviewed by several elders, including Alma Sandy, Alma Chemaganish, and David and Susan Swappie. After their suggestions and corrections were made, the Canadian Bible Society was invited to publish the book for the Naskapi community. They completed the typesetting in early 2023.

Meanwhile, Bill and Silas completed the sound recording and audio mastering for all forty chapters of the Exodus to accompany the printed text

When the Exodus books were ordered, printed, and delivered to Kawawa in July of 2023, the Naskapi Development Corporation and St. John’s Church in Kawawa began to make plans for a service of celebration and dedication in the community. The date agreed upon was Sunday, September 24, 2023. Our son Benjamin was also in the community at that time to do some graphic design and social media contract work for the Naskapi Nation. He attended the dedication services and took some beautiful pictures to share. Thank you for taking the time to scroll through them!

Besides the 6″ x 9″ paperback edition published by the Canadian Bible Society, the Naskapi Development Corporation also published hardcover presentation editions and large print format editions. All book formats and sizes are available to purchase on the internet as well as in-person at the Naskapi Development Corporation offices in Kawawachikamach.

Large print and regular size

All sizes, binding and covers

With the publication and dedication of the book of Exodus in Naskapi, this makes four publications available in the hands and hearts of the Naskapi people: The New Testament, Genesis, Psalms, and now, Exodus.

The Naskapi team continues to make steady progress on these other Old Testament books: Judges, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Esther, Ruth, Jonah, Job, Daniel, First & Second Samuel, First & Second Kings.

Naskapi scripture publication so far

Besides the availability of the print edition, an audio version of the entire book of Exodus is now being played regularly on Naskapi Radio, and is also available for public download for personal listening as a podcast. In addition, it is available for streaming on Bible reading apps and websites such as YouVersion and Scripture Earth.

https://www.bible.com/bible/2496/EXO.20 (YouVersion read and listen online)
https://scriptureearth.org/data/nsk/sab/nsk/nsk-03-EXO-001.html (Scripture Earth read and listen online)

Join us in praise and prayers:

  • For the successful completion, publication and dedication service of the Book of Exodus in Naskapi.
  • For the years of faithful work by so many members of the Naskapi translation team that brought this about.
  • Pray for our ongoing work with the Naskapi team as they continue their work on the subsequent Naskapi Old Testament translation projects
  • Pray for us as we continue our way through the rest of audio for the Book of Psalms in Naskapi.

And remember to pray with us for the upcoming First Nations Bible Translator Workshop that we are helping to coordinate, in Guelph Ontario, November 5-10, 2023. Pray that the participants (including the Naskapi team) will be able to come, that the workshop staff and guests will be able to help them with their confidence and capacity to translate the Word of God into their own language.

Serving with you,
Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief 06Nov2020

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Our Dear Partners,

Even though we are still challenged by limited local Naskapi translation help in the community (see our last Northern Translation Brief for the details), we continue to work on the projects that we can do with what we have. Today we are pleased to report to you about the revision of the Naskapi Lectionary (Year B), and some answers to your prayers.

A lectionary is a collection of Bible readings to be read to the faithful during the worship of God. Lectionaries have been used since the fourth century, when major churches arranged the Scripture readings according to a schedule that follows the calendar of the year. This practice of assigning particular readings to each Sunday and Holy Day has continued through the history of the Christian Church.

Since the 1990s, the Naskapi translators have worked with St. John’s Church in Kawawachikamach, with the selection, translation and production of lectionary readings in the form of a printed Sunday “church bulletin” of Scripture. We were guided by the Revised Common Lectionary, which is the pattern used by the Anglican Church of Canada and many other denominations around the world.

The translators worked hard for several years to provide printed copies of the Scripture for the congregation each week.

A decade ago, it became clear that it would be far more practical to produce a book that contained all the readings for an entire year. Even though most of the translation and checking was done, it was still a big job to collect all the readings for an entire year into a book. But this was finally completed and the first book (Year A) was dedicated on Sunday, April 17th 2011.

Rev. Martha Spence and Deacon Silas Nabinicaboo at the dedication of the Naskapi Lectionary in 2011

Since the Revised Common Lectionary provides Scripture readings spread out over a three-year cycle, during the next three years we worked on the production of all three books: Year A (liturgical year 2010-2011) Year B (liturgical year 2011-2012) and Year C (liturgical year 2012-2013).

Dedication of the First Edition of “Year A” Naskapi Sunday Lectionary in 2011

Of course, when Year A rolled around again during Advent of 2013, more copies of the blue Year A books were prepared, and the cycle repeated.

Original versions of Year A (blue book) Year B (red book) Year C (green book)

As the years went by, the Naskapi translation team continued to work on their long-term translation goals: the book of Genesis was published in 2013, and translation proceeded on other Old Testament books. During the spring of 2019, the book of Psalms was published in Naskapi and dedicated alongside the “Book of Bible Promises“, a topical collection of Scripture readings in Naskapi.

Psalms and Bible Promises books at the front of the church on Dedication Day

Remember that the lectionary readings for each week contain a passage from the Old Testament, a reading from the Psalms, a portion of the Epistles, and a section of the Gospels. One year of lectionary readings contains hundreds of verses from all parts of the Bible.

As usually happens in the course of our ongoing translation work and checking, many of the readings contained in the lectionary are often corrected to make their spelling more consistent, or revised somewhat to make the meaning more clear or natural. All of these corrections needed to make their way into a new edition of the books.

So last fall we completely updated the book of readings for Year A, liturgical year 2019-2020. This fall we did the same thing for Year B, liturgical year 2020-2021, which begins with the First Sunday of Advent, coming this November 29, 2020.

The format of the new book is very similar to the previous books, but every Scripture reading has been updated to its current corrected form. We have also updated the accompanying index and calendar, and included simple instructions to locate the readings for any Sunday in the year. This set of revisions also have newly designed covers.

Bill completed the final composition and formatting for the books on October 21, 2020. By the end of that month we received the first “proof copy” (the book pictured here) and upon review and approval we ordered a supply of 30 books to be printed and shipped to the Naskapi church.

We received notice from the printer that the books were printed, packed and shipped this week, on November 2nd 2020, and they are now on their way to Kawawachikamach.

Even though there have been disruptions in travel and shipping in the north, There is still a very good chance that these new books will be delivered to Kawawachikamach before the end of the month, which will be just in time for the First Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2020. When they receive their books, the congregation will find all the readings for that Sunday starting on “page 1”.

Thank you for your prayers for this project, which makes the Scriptures in Naskapi available to the congregation in Kawawachikamach every Sunday. Please continue to remember “FedEx” and “Canada Post” this week, as they do their job and get these books “to the church on time”.

Serving you with joy,

Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

PS: Some ongoing prayer requests from last month (updates from our last Northern Translation Brief)

  • Pray that God will send willing and capable Naskapi persons to fill translation roles, so that their dream of completing the Bible in Naskapi can still be realized.
  • Pray that God continues to give us grace and stamina as we serve as foster parents for three small children: Charlotte (age 5), Bella (age 4) and now Remmy (age 3) who just came into our care a couple weeks ago.

Charlotte, Remmy & Bella at bedtime (image intentionally blurred for reasons of privacy and security)

Northern Translation Brief: Psalms-The Book of Praises in Naskapi

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Our Dear Partners,

On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, March 24th, 2019 there was a special service held at St. John’s Parish, Kawawachikamach, for the dedication of the translated book of Psalms in the Naskapi language. This is another important milestone for the work the Naskapi translation team does in making the Bible available and accessible in their own language Work began on the Naskapi Bible translation project in the 1990s. The Naskapi Development Corporation (NDC) partnered with St. John’s Parish and Wycliffe Bible Translators to build a translation team that sought to fulfil the vision of the late Joseph Guanish, long time chief of the Naskapi Nation, former president of NDC, and mentor and inspiration to the team and the community.

He lived to see his vision begin to be fulfilled with the publication of the New Testament in the Naskapi language in 2007, followed by the dedication of the book of Genesis in 2013. The Translation of the Psalms into Naskapi was initially a part of Lectionary Readings for Sundays and Holy Days (2012), using the Psalter included in Bishop John Horden’s 1889 Book of Common Prayer in the Cree language as the primary source material. With the present publication, the Naskapi Development Corporation is pleased to present all 150 Psalms to Naskapi readers for the first time in a single volume. Our prayer is that these Scriptures would bless the Naskapi people for generations as they have blessed millions of God’s people around the world for thousands of years.

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.

ᑕᓐᑕ ᒐᒋ ᐅᒋ ‍ ᐸᔭᒋᑕᑦ ᐅᔅᒋᓂᒋᓱᐤ ᐅᑦ ᐃᓯᑥᐅᓐ?
ᐊ ‍ ᐃᔭᒂᒥᓯᑦ ᐊ ‍ ᐃᔅᒋᔄᒥᑭᓂᔨᒡ ᒋᑦ ᐃᔨᒧᐅᓂᔪᐤ᙮
ᒥᓯᐛ ᓂᑕᐃᒡ ᔅᒋ ᐅᒋ ‍ ᓇᓂᑐᐛᔨᒥᑎᓐ:
ᐅ ᐊᑲᐎᔾ ᓇᐊᔨᒥ ᒐᒋ ᐅᓂᒥᑎᒪᔭᓐ ᒋᐎᓱᐛᐅᓇ ᐅᒡ᙮
ᒋᑦ ᐃᔨᒧᐅᓐ ᓂᒋ ‍ ᑲᑕᓐ ᓂᑕᐃᒡ,
ᒐ ᐊᑲ ᒋ ᒥᒋᑐᑕᑕᓐ᙮

–Psalm 119:9-11–

The book of Psalms is one of the books of the Bible that give us wisdom on how to live well. It is a collection of raw, honest prayers poured out to the Lord that cover a wide range of life experiences. Each was composed in response to a real-life situation or celebration. Together they cover the full spectrum of human emotion, from exuberant joy to agonizing pain.
The Psalmists invite us to express our true thoughts and feelings to God. We do not have to hold anything back. We are not alone in the ups and downs of life. Instead, we have the assurance that God is faithful and good, and His presence is with all who trust in Him.

The translation team expressed to us how proud they are of this accomplishment, and the Naskapi people are also grateful to have still another part of the Bible available in their own language. Continued work on translating the Old Testament into Naskapi is still an on-going project that we are committed to, and provides them with another way of preserving their language, and know and love God better.

Psalms books at the front of the church on Dedication Day

Our friend, the Rev. Silas Nabinicaboo, the deacon at the Naskapi Church, asked us to tell you:

“The Naskapi community and St. John’s Parish would like to express our deep thanks to all those who have been dedicated to this project. The early drafts of Psalms were prepared and reviewed by the late Joseph Guanish, and work continued on this project over more than fifteen years by myself, joined by Naskapi Language Specialists Amanda Swappie, Ruby Nabinicaboo, Tshiueten Vachon. We are filled with gratitude to everyone who provided their guidance, and assistance, and to all who gave their support for this project.”

Please join us in praise and thanks to God and congratulations to the translation team at Kawawachikamach for this accomplishment!

Serving with you, Bill & Norma Jean

Deacon Silas Nabinicaboo tells about the new book of Psalms at the Dedication Service

Prayers of dedication for the new books

Young Naskapis who learn to read at school can now read the Psalms for the first time

Older Naskapis expressed their gratitude after having waited many years for this day

People of every generation will treasure “Psalms: the Book of Praises in Naskapi” for years to come

The Book of Psalms in Naskapi is also available to the general public through online sales:

http://www.lulu.com/content/21310118