Investigating Culture- Specific Concepts From Good News Bible to Gikuyu Translation of Psalm 23 and How It Influences the Perception of God’s Provision

Abstract

This study set out to describe the culture-specific concepts found in the book of Psalm 23 in the Holy Bible, using the Good News Bible (GNB), and its translation in the Gikuyu Bible, to discuss the various explanations that are given to these concepts by the members of the Gikuyu Christian community; and to discuss findings on how this translation influences the perception of God’s provision, affluence and the less fortunate. This study was driven by the desire to correct the wrong interpretation of culture- specific concepts and to appreciate how they distort the message of the Bible. This study was guided by the theory of Hermeneutics. It was initiated by providing the portion of Psalm 23 to respondents and filling of questionnaires. We deducted from the data that the meaning of translated culture-specific concepts in Psalm 23 was altered by the new cultural context in which they were being applied. The existence of culture-specific concepts in Psalms 23 and the alteration of the original message, and the existence of a relationship between the translated message of culture-specific concepts in Psalms 23 and the perception of God’s provision. We also found out that there exists a disconnect between the perception of God’s provision and the relationship between hard work and faith.