Abstract:
The Asante-Twi Bible’s translation of ‘āḇaḏ, and šāmar, can be misleading and a
source of motivation for environmental degradation among Asante communities in
Ghana. Incidentally, Ghana faces serious environmental crisis where many of her
water bodies and forest cover are being destroyed due to illegal mining activities. If a
misinterpretation arises out of such a translation of the biblical text, it could be
considered as a stimulus for ecological misbehaviour. Was it the case of unavailability
of suitable clauses in the receptor language or a choice of translational approach by
the local translators? This study employed a historical-critical method and an
exegetical approach, where Genesis 2:15 was contextually, textually and
morphosyntactically analysed and its translations in the Asante-Twi Bible assessed.
Having scrutinized ancient texts such as the Masoretic Text, Septuagint and Targum
Pseudo-Jonathan and their parallel with Asante-Twi Bible regarding the text, it is
argued in this paper that the Hebrew clause, ‘āḇǝḏāh ūšāmǝrāh, could be suitably
translated as ɔnyɔ mu adwuma na ɔnhwɛ so yie, “he should cultivate and keep it well,”
in the Asante-Twi. It is believed that this would advance mother-tongue theologizing
regarding Christian environmental discourse among Asante-Twi readers. This study
has contributed to the field of Mother-tongue Biblical Hermeneutics, Bible Translation
Studies, Old Testament Exegesis, Biblical Studies and Linguistics.
