Release of the Hawaiian New Testament July 31, 2014

Ke Kauoha Hou me Ka Buke o Nā Halelū a me Nā ‘Ōlelo Akamai a Solomona

(The New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs)

The Hawaiian Bible project began in 2002 to preserve the Hawaiian Bible and make it available online, free of charge, for anyone interested in reading and studying scripture in Hawaiian. At the time, the American Bible Society, the publisher of record since the early 1800’s, had decided to discontinue printing the Baibala Hemolele. Ten years later, in 2012, the first Hawaiian Bible in the modern Hawaiian orthography was printed.

This is not the first time a Hawaiian-English bilingual Bible has been produced. The first Baibala to include both Hawaiian and English was a New Testament printed in 1857 and reprinted a number of times since then. However, this is the first time the Psalms and Proverbs will appear in parallel Hawaiian-English form and the first bilingual edition to include the modern Hawaiian text.

The newest publication marks the second printed work of the project. The purpose of this phase was to create a bilingual Hawaiian-English edition with parallel text to offer readers in both languages a better understanding of Scripture and to allow for comparative study. This edition includes the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs.

The original translation of the Bible into Hawaiian by missionary translators and their Hawaiian counterparts was done directly from the original languages (Hebrew – Old Testament and Greek – New Testament) into Hawaiian. It is important to know that no words were changed, nor any additional translation added as the modern Hawaiian text was developed. The modern Hawaiian text is a transliteration from the old Hawaiian orthography to the new orthography – complete with diacritics.

You may purchase the Bible through Mutual Publishing or by calling 808-595-2752 or e-mail pid@pidfoundation.org.