Today's Yali Angguruk Bible (YLILAI)

Overview

The "Allah Wene" is a New Testament in the Angguruk Yali language of the Jayawijaya mountains of Papua, Indonesia, published in 1992 by the Indonesian Bible Society (LAI). [1] The Yali people were first contacted by missionaries on May 21, 1961, when Stan Dale and Bruno de Leeuw, working with the Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU, now World Team), reached the Yali tribe in what was then Dutch New Guinea. [2] Stan Dale, together with a Yali man named Luliap Pahabol, produced the first book of the Bible translated into Yali: the Gospel of Mark. [3] In September 1968, Stan Dale and fellow RBMU missionary Phil Masters were killed by Yali warriors while attempting to reach remote communities; some of their companions escaped to the northern Yali mission station at Angguruk. [2] [3] Despite this tragedy, translation work continued over subsequent decades, with Bible portions appearing between 1976 and 1998, culminating in the New Testament published in 1992. [4] A complete Bible in a related Yali dialect (Ninia) was dedicated in 2000, and a full Bible for the Angguruk Yali was completed in 2019. [4]

Language and People

Angguruk Yali (ISO 639-3: yli), also known as Ngalik or Northern Yali, is spoken by approximately 15,000 to 23,000 people in the highlands of Eastern Papua, Indonesia. [4] The Yali are a highland Papuan people living in the remote Jayawijaya mountains, where steep terrain and dense forest make travel extremely difficult. [2] Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has been critical to sustaining contact with Yali communities, providing air transport to areas that would otherwise require days of hiking. [5] The Yali practiced animism prior to missionary contact, and the region was among the last in Papua to be reached by outsiders. [2] [Glottolog: angg1239]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Indonesian Bible Society.

References