Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the Deaf unstopped. —Isaiah 35:5 (NIV)
The 18-year-old Deaf girl stood at the front of the room, gazing into the eyes of a compassionate and loving Deaf community. Until now, she’d literally been nameless, which is not uncommon for Deaf people around the world. So often, these precious children of God are kept isolated by their families, in cultures that simply see no value investing in them. But here she was loved. And she was about to get a name.
A number of people in the room identified some of the girl’s characteristics, and then offered up a few potential names in sign language. After much consideration, she chose a simple gesture: a swipe of her hand just above her forehead, then over her hair.
This touching account reflects an uplifting spirit of hope within the Marathi Deaf community—one that has been fueled by the recent completion of the Marathi Sign Language New Testament. It is only the second sign language New Testament ever translated and the first one to be completed using MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation), our translation strategy in which groups of translators work side by side to translate Scripture simultaneously and much faster than previous methods. The small team of Deaf Christians first translated the text into Marathi Sign Language, and then they filmed themselves signing the translation.
A special service was held April 22, 2018 to dedicate the video New Testament, which will serve some 400,000 Marathi Deaf. The translation team’s prayer now is to be the first to complete the entire Bible in Marathi Sign Language.
There are currently more than 400 different sign languages worldwide, but not a complete Bible in any of them. Your continued support will help change that by getting God’s Word to Deaf communities who have been overlooked for centuries.
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