How Did the Author of Genesis Know?

Nowhere does the book of Genesis state who the author is. Both Jewish and Christian tradition hold that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Numbers 33:2 supports this idea, stating, “At the Lord’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey.” Of course, Moses couldn’t have written Deuteronomy 34:5-12, which describes his death, burial, and the period of mourning that followed. Scholars later proposed that the Pentateuch was written by various authors over a long period of time. But ultimately we don’t know who wrote the book of Genesis, and identifying the author of Genesis is not an integral part of receiving the book as inspired Scripture.

What is important for Enga translation is deciding whether or not the author of Genesis was an eyewitness to the events described in the book. The Enga language has suffixes that linguists call evidentials. These evidentials are tacked on to the end of a statement so that the hearer knows the source of the speaker’s information. The default is that the speaker is an eyewitness to the information he is sharing. For example, if the speaker says, “Aiyuu epelyamo” (it is raining), the verb “epelyamo” makes it clear that the speaker is seeing the rain come down and basing his statement on that visual evidence. However, if the speaker says “Aiyuu ipumu” (it is raining), the verb “ipumu” makes it clear that the speaker does NOT see the rain but only hears the rain hitting the roof.

There is another evidential that communicates to the listener that an event happened some time in the past and that the speaker did not directly witness it but only heard about it from others. For example, the speaker could say “Gii mendepa aiyuu andake mende epea-pyaa.” (One time a very large rain reportedly came). In this case the word “epea” means “came” and the suffix “-pyaa” means “reportedly” and indicates that the speaker did not directly witness the event but only heard about it from others. Perhaps the big rain happened before the speaker was born, and the speaker only heard about it from his parents.

A rendition of Moses writing the Pentateuch

This has direct implications for the translation of Genesis. Even if we assume that Moses was the author, the events described in the book of Genesis take place long before Moses was born. Furthermore, it is impossible that any human could have witnessed the events described in Genesis 1. Consequently, we know that whoever wrote the book of Genesis, whether it was Moses or later scribes, we know that the author(s) could not have been direct witnesses of the events described in the book. Rather, the author(s) must have received the information either through stories passed down for generations or by direct revelation from God. In either case, the information is secondhand to the author(s), and so the Enga translation must attach the “-pyaa” suffix throughout, indicating that the events were not directly witnessed by the author(s).

Of course we know that all Scripture is inspired by God. Actually what 2 Timothy 3:16 literally says is that all Scripture is “God-breathed.” Just as God breathed the breath of life into Adam, so God breathes life into the Scriptures and into us when we read them and enter into relationship with God. And this happens whether the authors directly witnessed the events or not.

On this topic of eyewitness testimony, our strategy for translating Genesis differs significantly from our strategy for translating the New Testament, which is full of direct eyewitness accounts. Click here to read about how we handled this topic in the New Testament.

Enga Audio Bibles Sold Out!

Last August Martha and I received an unexpected message from Barty Omae, the manager of our Port Moresby office in Papua New Guinea. Barty had just come from the Jubilee Reset Gospel Music Festival in Port Moresby, where he represented our organization at a booth. Barty wrote of the weekend, “It was deeply moving to see people in tears when they realized they could access the Bible in their own language through the Google Play Store, either to read or to listen to … audio.” There are many Enga speakers in the capital city of Port Moresby, and Barty reported that, “A man from Enga stood in tears of joy as he connected with every word of Scripture in his own language through audio.” Barty summarized his experience at the festival saying, “Moments like these gave us hope and reminded us that Bible Translation is indeed a powerful way to instill God’s Word in the lives of Papua New Guineans.”

We’re so thankful for men like Barty Omae, who help us distribute the Enga New Testament in places where we can’t always be. Another couple we are thankful for is Ron and Mary Anne Rall, retired Lutheran missionaries who visit Enga for a few months each year. Ron and Mary Anne have been amazing advocates for the Enga New Testament, traveling far and wide to distribute the Enga New Testament in print and audio formats. Thanks in part to Ron and Mary Anne, the initial batch of 2,000 Enga Audio New Testaments that we bought are now completely sold out! But we have already ordered an additional 500 units that will go into distribution in the coming months.

For people who live in the largely oral cultures of Papua New Guinea, hearing Scripture in their own language is a powerful experience, not only because the message comes through so clearly, but also because it shows them that they matter (even if the outside world takes no notice of them) and that the most powerful King in the universe speaks their language.

An elderly woman hearing the Enga New Testament for the first time

Translation Work
After taking some much needed time off during our furlough, I (Adam) am very much back at work. With the Enga New Testament now published and being distributed, I have turned the focus of my translation work to checking the Old Testament drafts. I’m very proud of the Enga translation team for completing the draft of Genesis on their own, preparing a back-translation in English, and interacting with the consultant. It shows just how much the team has grown and developed since we first started translation work together back in 2013. Nevertheless, an outside consultant who does not know the Enga language cannot catch every mistake. So I have been doing my own check of Genesis. While I am very pleased with the excellent progress the translation team has made in their abilities as translators, there are still a number of mistakes to clean up and improvements to make in the translation. I’m thankful that I can do this work remotely during our time in America. Praise God for the Internet, which allows me to stay engaged in my work from the other side of the world.

Finance Work
In addition to checking the book of Genesis, I have been hard at work helping our Global Finance department review year end financial reports from the Bible translation organizations we have all over the world. I recognize that we could never have completed our translation of the Enga New Testament without people filling the vital support roles that allow our global organization to run. So I am happy for the opportunity to give back and help in other ways to support the work of other Bible translators around the world.

Martin Harty, beloved friend and translator

Martin’s House
Please pray for Martin Harty and his family. Martin is a faithful member of the Enga Bible Translation team who has been serving with us from the very beginning. He is a wonderful man who exudes the joy of the Lord in his life at all times. The day after Christmas I received a message from Martin that his house had burned down due to a kerosene accident. (Enga homes have a fire inside the house that they use to cook meals and stay warm.) Martin suffers from severe vision impairment, and his granddaughter helps him with his translation work. But despite Martin’s visual impairment, he was able to escape the house along with his family. But he is asking for our prayers, so please remember him and his family.