Kalenjin: A Missing Verse and a New Translation

A young student stood before the congregation that Lord's Day morning in Kenya, his sermon prepared from John 16. He had studied diligently at Bomet Bible Institute, working through the passage in his English Bible. Three points emerged clearly, which he was eager to expound.

The first two points proceeded smoothly. Then came the third, and with it, confusion. The verse upon which his final point rested was not in his Kalenjin Bible, nor was it in any Kalenjin Bible held by those gathered that morning. The passage stood plainly before him in English yet remained absent from the Scriptures in his mother tongue.

Standing at the pulpit with no explanation to offer, this student-preacher could only acknowledge what had become painfully evident: something was missing from God’s Word as it had been rendered in Kalenjin.

A burden for complete Scripture

The following Monday, the perplexed student brought his question to his tutor. Why did portions of Scripture appear in one translation but not another? His tutor, rather than providing immediate answers, offered instead a challenge: ‘Work hard in your studies, that you might find the answer yourself’.

What the student had encountered was a textual variant. The 1969 Kalenjin translation had been rendered from a different textual foundation than the traditional text underlying his English Bible. The question would not rest: how many Kalenjin believers were reading incomplete Scripture, unaware of what had been omitted?

Years later, the Lord’s providence would prove faithful. Through the provision of a scholarship, the young man found himself at Far Eastern Bible College in Singapore, enrolled in theological studies with a particular focus: New Testament Greek. The elementary courses proved demanding for one who had never encountered the biblical languages, yet the memory of that Sabbath morning drove him forward through the conjugations and grammatical complexities.

As he gained proficiency in Greek, he began a systematic analysis of the 1969 Kalenjin New Testament against the Greek Received Text. The extent of the differences proved sobering, and his research, eventually spanning two hundred pages, documented discrepancies demonstrated that Kalenjin readers did not have a complete Bible. The findings troubled not only him but also his professors and fellow students.

The Lord opens a way

Following graduation, the Lord’s guiding hand connected this now-qualified scholar with the Trinitarian Bible Society, whose commitment to faithful translations from the traditional text aligned with the burden he carried. In 2014, TBS appointed him to assemble a translation team of those with both theological training and deep knowledge of the Kalenjin language and culture.

The work proved more demanding than anticipated. The New Testament translation required years of careful attention, with multiple rounds of review and refinement. The team laboured on, trusting in the Lord’s timing for completion.

Scripture completed

In July 2025, many years after that morning at Bomet, the Kalenjin people received their first faithful Kalenjin New Testament translation. Thanksgiving services were held at Chuiyat Good News Church in Eldoret and Bomet Africa Gospel Unity Church, where TBS General Secretary Jonathan Arnold joined. Kalenjin speakers received their New Testaments with gratitude, knowing they now held Scriptures rendered faithfully from the Received Text. No longer would preachers find themselves before congregations with passages present in one Bible yet absent in another.

No longer would teachers struggle to explain textual gaps to questioning students. The Word of God now speaks in Kalenjin, while work continues on the Old Testament, the team remains steadfast with the same conviction that began with one student’s earnest question years ago.

The greater purpose

One moment of confusion before a congregation became, in the Lord’s providence, the catalyst by which an entire people would receive complete access to Holy Scripture. What began as an awkward Sabbath morning question has resulted in years of faithful labour, a labour of love motivated by the desire that souls might read God’s Word in its fullness and, by His grace, come to salvation through Jesus Christ.

May the Lord be pleased to use this translation to bring many Kalenjin people to saving knowledge of Him. May pastors faithfully expound these Scriptures and families read them in their homes. May the Holy Spirit apply the Word with power, that sinners might be convicted, converted, and built up in the faith. To Him be the glory in the salvation of souls.