Biblical Swahili

This morning at church I (Misha) was asked to read the Old Testament reading. Half of a chapter of Zephaniah in tricky biblical Swahili in front of an audience?  Gulp!  I agreed to do it, but quickly opened my Swahili Bible to read through the passage on my own first.

I didn't recognize one of the words, so asked the man sitting next to me what it meant.  He was a recently-retired economist, and I had already determined while talking with him before the service that he, without a doubt, was one of the most educated Tanzanians I've met.  He studied the word and the verse, but in the end shrugged and said he didn't know.  He told me, "The Swahili of the Bible is very difficult," in an effort to reassure me it was okay that I didn't know it and to explain why he didn't, either.  While I was slightly comforted that my Swahili wasn't too bad, I was also saddened.  If this well-educated man had no idea what a word in Zephaniah meant, what hope did all the other people attempting to read the Swahili Bible have?  I was once again reminded of the great need for Bible translation.

I managed to get through the whole thing without a major stumble.  When I finished, I was so relieved that practically bolted back to my seat.  The next person to stand up at the front then said, "This is the Word of the Lord," and everyone responded, "Thanks be to God."  Oops.  I guess I forgot that little closing line from the liturgy...  In my defense, the only time in my life when I regularly attended a church which used liturgy of any sort was when I was at Hope College and went to Hope Church, which is in the Reformed Church in America denomination.  Since they used English at Hope Church, not Swahili, my liturgical experience for four years doesn't always come in very handy here for remembering what I'm supposed to say!