Bible translation is a demanding task and needs constant prayer support from start to finish. Translators have noticed, however, that special difficulties seem to surface when translations near completion. What follows is a sampling of such problems to help you in praying for those involved.
The list is not hypothetical. Every item mentioned has occurred to delay completion of some translation.
- Pray for the stamina and health of translators, their families and their children.
- Pray that scheduling of furloughs, administrative duties and other urgent tasks will not interfere with progress.
- Pray that responsibilities concerning aging parents, education of children and family duties will not be neglected.
- Pray for peace and guidance for translators having to leave the work due to health or family issues, and for local co-workers having to return to work or school.
- Pray for translations being done in secret. Pray for God to protect the lives of those involved and their families.
- Pray for readers to be available to give community checks on acceptability of the translation.
- Pray for the funding needed to support the translators, pay the expenses, and publish the materials.
- Pray for authorizations and approvals by church authorities and governments where required.
- Pray that local churches will be fully involved and reach consensus on wording, writing and printing.
- Pray that final decisions on use of key biblical terms will be acceptable to all concerned.
- Pray for reconciliation of alphabets and alternate wordings, due to dialect differences.
- Pray for availability of trained consultants so that translation checking and final approvals will not be delayed.
- Pray for literacy workers to promote literacy and so relieve translators to finish the translation. Pray for local enthusiasm for the completion and publication that will urge the translators on.
- Pray against technical failures of computers, storage disks, copiers, printers and service items.
- Pray concerning extreme weather conditions, like hurricanes and earthquakes, and the safety of manuscripts.
- Pray against wars and insurrections that render it impossible to continue the work.
- Pray for accuracy on the part of typesetters, who are often working with a language they do not understand.
- Pray for proofreaders, that they may catch and correct errors that would mar the translation.
- Pray for the mailing and shipping process, that damage or loss in transit, or delays in customs, will not occur.
Here are some more ressources to help you pray.