Balangao New Testament (BLWWBT)

Overview

New Testament in Balangao

The Balangao are an indigenous people of the Cordillera mountains in northern Luzon, Philippines, speaking an Austronesian language of the Northern Philippine branch. [1] In 1962, Wycliffe Bible Translators Jo (Joanne) Shetler and Anne Fetzer arrived to live with the Balangao community and began the work of documenting the language and translating the scriptures. [2] The New Testament was completed after twenty years of work in 1982, with the translation produced collaboratively by Shetler alongside Balangao co-translators. [3] Shetler later documented the impact of the translation project in her memoir "And the Word Came With Power: How God Met and Changed a People Forever" (Multnomah Press, 1992), which describes how more than half of the approximately 20,000 Balangao people became Christians following the scripture's availability in their language. [2] Wycliffe Bible Translators has continued to support the Balangao community, with follow-on language development projects running through 2019–2022 to further expand scripture and literacy resources. [4] The vernacular title "Hen alen Apudyus" remains the primary scripture resource for this community of approximately 11,500 speakers.

Language and People

Balangao (ISO 639-3: blw) is spoken by approximately 11,500 people in Northern Philippines. [Glottolog: bala1310]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. Translation type: First.

References