The New Translation Bible Update Seminar 2 (TB2) has become part of the series of Bible Week events throughout 2023-2024. This seminar was held as part of the commitment of the Indonesian Bible Society (LAI) to continue to socialize or distribute the TB2 Bible to Christians in Indonesia.

This time the seminar was held in Biak, after the opening service of Bible Week. A total of 199 participants registered to participate in this activity, and more than 20 people who had not registered attended to attend the seminar led by Mr. Hortensio F. Mandaru, SSL., about the TB2 Bible Update. The seminar went smoothly until the end of the event.

For some Biak people, this socialization is very important considering the large number of Christians living in this area. Several participants who attended were congregation leaders, including pastors, elders, youth leaders, and local Synod leaders. This indicates that the publication of this activity has been carried out properly by the local Biak Bible Week committee.

On this occasion, Mr. Hortensio explained the importance of accuracy, fairness, and acceptability which are considerations in the Bible translation process. He added that the development of linguistics also greatly influenced the New Translation 2.

The participants who listened to the seminar looked enthusiastic, even 12 people were recorded as asking questions during the discussion session. Among the questions, there was one interesting one, namely a question related to environmental issues, considering that the Bible was printed using paper. Lukas Norman Kbarek, a PAM member from the GKI Rehobot Fandoi Biak congregation, asked, "What about previously printed Bibles, such as the New Translation 1? Can they be returned to LAI to be exchanged for TB2? Or what?" Mr. Hortensio explained that the TB Bible would not be printed again because TB2 already existed. Mrs. Melvy Alfons, Head of the LAI Tanah Papua Representative Office, added that existing TB Bibles should be kept to be read as a comparison. This statement certainly received support from Mr. Hortensio as the LAI translator.

There was also a fairly unique question raised by an elder from the IS KIJNE Samofa Biak congregation named Mr. Sundur Ompusunggu. He asked Mr. Hortensio about the term 'sela' in the Bible. After asking the question, he sighed and added, "If possible, the price of this Bible should be cheaper, because it is difficult for us as Ekolem people to buy it! Yes, Ekolem is an abbreviation of Weak Economy." This statement made other participants laugh because they were surprised to hear the term "Ekolem." Actually, Mr. Elder wanted to emphasize that some people in his church did not have enough money to buy a Bible which is quite expensive in Papua.

After all the questions were answered, the lively and orderly discussion was finally closed with gratitude. All participants felt satisfied, but were still curious to hear other presentations that had not been delivered due to time constraints.

(HY)