Moi-Wadea Bible
Overview
The New Testament (Anegisemee'm Mina Kapuge) in Moi-Wadea (Dao) was published by New Tribes Mission (now rebranded as Ethnos360 since 2017). It is available online via YouVersion/Bible.com (New Testament, 27 books).
Language and People
Moi-Wadea (ISO 639-3: daz), also known as Dao or Maniwo, is a Papuan language belonging to the Paniai Lakes (Wissel Lakes) branch of the Trans-New Guinea language family. It is one of two dialects of the Auye-Dao language: Auye (Auwje) and Dao (Maniwo/Moi-Wadea) share approximately 75% lexical similarity with each other.
The language is spoken in Paniai Regency, Central Papua Province, Indonesia — in the west-central highlands of the island of New Guinea, east of Cenderawasih Bay, along the Dao River in Napan subdistrict. This is on the Indonesian (formerly West Papua / Irian Jaya) side of the island, not Papua New Guinea. The name Moi comes from a neighboring dialect, and Dao from the river of the same name.
Speakers numbered approximately 250 as of a 1991 survey, making this a small and endangered language community. Speakers also use Papuan Malay as a contact language. The Paniai Lakes language family as a whole (four languages) has roughly 100,000 speakers, but Dao/Moi-Wadea is among its smallest members.
Publishing and Organizations
New Tribes Mission (NTM), renamed Ethnos360 in 2017, is a U.S.-based evangelical mission organization specializing in Bible translation and church planting among unreached tribal peoples. The name change reflected a desire to remove terminology that carries negative connotations in many cultures. Ethnos360 has been active in the Indonesian highlands for decades, conducting translation and literacy work in partnership with local communities.