After nearly four decades of preparation, for the first time ever, the complete Bible is now available for the deaf and hearing impaired in American Sign Language. Those of us who have functional hearing may find it hard to realize just how important this milestone is. Most of us may think that even if people cannot hear the Word of God they can still read the Bible, but that is frequently not true because some 95% of the world’s deaf population is functionally illiterate.
That is where sign language comes in, but although there are literally hundreds of sign language systems for the deaf in existence, many of these systems are only known by a few people. In any case, only about twenty of the various signing systems have any kind of Bible material published in them.
American Sign Language (ASL) is by far the most widespread signing system used in the United States and is used by some in other areas also. But more than a half-million people throughout the US alone use ASL to communicate as their native language. This is a sizeable population that compares with many languages in which translators have translated the Bible.
Translating a book as complex as the Bible into ASL was not an easy task. ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the fundamental features of language, with its own rules for word formation and word order. Its syntax is, in fact, often different from that of English, so these are important reasons why deaf individuals need a Bible in their own language. And now they have one.
Deaf Missions, a ministry dedicated to communicating “the Gospel of Jesus with Deaf people through their heart language, culture and identity,” began the translation of the Bible into ASL in the early 1980s. Recently the ministry partnered with other translation groups such as Wycliffe USA, the American Bible Society, and others, and the final biblical books needing translation to ASL (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) were completed this past fall.
In March 2022, Wycliffe Associates released a translation of the New Testament in an entirely new concept-based language they developed named SUN (Symbolic Universal Notation). This new language represents the words in Scripture by small hieroglyph-like signs. The system is not extremely difficult to learn and can help both the Deaf and Blind to read the Bible, but the SUN language has to be learned before it can be used, of course. On the other hand, now, for the first time, the whole Bible is available to more than a half million people whose primary language is already ASL and also available to many more if they choose to learn ASL.
The Deaf Mission website notes that roughly 98% of the worldwide population of Deaf people have never been able to encounter Jesus in a deep and significant way, but now, finally, they have access to the Word of God through the word of God.
