Tagalog Gospel according to John

The standardised form of Tagalog, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines and is one of two official languages alongside English. Approximately 28 million people speak Tagalog as a first language and another 82 million speak it as a second language.

Some years ago the Society carried out research into the available Tagalog Bible versions, including two that were recommended to us. We had to conclude with regret that there was not an edition that met both our textual and translational standards. Therefore, we began to prepare a new translation directly from the Hebrew Masoretic and Greek Received Texts. We are very thankful that one of the Filipino men who came forward with a keen desire to work on a new translation of the Tagalog Bible has been accepted to work on a pilot project, translating the Gospel according to John. His work on the first three chapters of John was checked very closely and assessed as good with the help of a very well qualified couple who lived in Manila for many years. Lord willing, we hope to publish the Gospel according to John by the end of 2023.

We give thanks for this very encouraging state of affairs after years of no progress in this language. We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by a church in Canada for this project and give thanks that the Lord knows our pathway, and that His hand is upon His people for their eternal good.