January 24, 2005
by Pat Cole

LOUISVILLE - Marie "Breezy" Lusted was an unlikely candidate to guide a Bible translation project in Ethiopia.

A registered nurse, Lusted had no linguistic training and no formal theological education. Yet when nobody stepped forward to translate the Old Testament into Anuak, Lusted volunteered for the job. Inspired by a love for the church, languages and the Scripture, this recently retired PC(USA) mission worker has spent more than two decades on the project.

An estimated 90,000 Anuak people will have a complete Bible in their native tongue within two years thanks to Lusted and her colleagues. Lusted continues working on the translation as a PC(USA) mission volunteer.

A New Testament in Anuak, one of about 80 languages spoken in Ethiopia, was produced more than 40 years ago. It was Lusted's involvement in that project that began her interest in Bible translation.

"I had studied the language, but I had learned a lot from just being around the people," says Lusted. "I have always been interested in languages."

The Anuak New Testament was first produced in Sudan in 1962, but another edition was published in Ethiopia in a different script in 1965. Lusted helped proofread the text as it was being typeset.

"After some years, the church leaders began asking, 'Where is the rest of the Bible?'" recalls Lusted. "'Who is going to translate that for us?' And there wasn't anybody."

The mission worker who had led the New Testament translation had gone to another assignment. "Being a naïve person, I said, 'Well, maybe I could do that,' and that's how it all got started."

Lusted began the translation assignment while serving at a clinic in Pokwo in the late 1960s. She took a linguistics class offered by Wycliffe Bible Translators, but it was difficult to find time for this work and keep up with the demands of the clinic. The project languished until political upheaval prompted her move to Addis Abba in 1979.

After getting established in her new assignment as a school nurse, Lusted resumed the project. By 1983 she was devoting significant time to it and recruited native Anuak speakers to help.

"There are always challenges with idioms, the figures of speech," she says. "If you translate an idiom literally, you can get entirely the wrong idea. We do a lot of discussion back and forth about what it really means and how you say it in Anuak, but thanks to the Lord's help, I'm sure, we have always found some way to say it."

Their drafts are then submitted to a committee of reviewers who represent each dialect of Anuak. Sometimes some words or concepts familiar to some Anuak speakers will be unknown to another group.

For example, the Anuak who live near a major river can understand references to crossing the fords of the Jordan. Yet those who live in the forests away from major rivers have no word for ford. In cases like these the translators must come up with a word or phrase that has a common understanding or insert a footnote.

Eventually the translation draft goes to consultants from the Bible Society of Ethiopia, who also check it.

Lusted and her colleagues have translated the entire Old Testament, and the Bible Society consultants have approved their work. Now the translators are going over the text once more, making sure that they have been consistent.

The team is also talking to church leaders about portions of the New Testament translation that need updates. The Bible Society estimates it will be two years before the new Anuak Bible rolls off the presses.

Lusted says the translation project has given her a new perspective on the Old Testament. "It really has been a spiritual experience for me, not just an academic exercise."

Presbyterian News Service
Pat Cole is the Associate for Communications, Worldwide Ministries Division. Reprinted from Highlights.