After 39 years, the ASL Bible is complete

A Bible translation that started in 1981 has finally been completed, through videos in American Sign Language (ASL) for the deaf community.  

Three books in the Old Testament were holding up the project, but as of this fall, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were completed, finishing off the project.  

According to an article from Christianity Today, it was Duane King who started the project. He was a minister in the Independent Christian Church in Iowa.  

Although King can hear, he felt like he needed to help the deaf community understand the Bible better after he met a deaf couple that was hesitant to come to church.  

“Most hearing people don’t understand how difficult it is to learn to read what you cannot hear,” says King, still working on the project after all these years. “Deaf people rely so much on their eyesight that they want everything to be tangible—they want to be able to see everything.” 

Translating the Bible into ASL means using word order and vocabulary that corresponds to sign language. This was completed through Deaf Mission.