Congressman Ben Reifel

The following is from a 1966 speech from congressman Ben Reifel of South Dakota:

"Mr. Speaker, this morning I was among those participating in ceremonies in connection with designating the 30th day of September in 1966 as “Bible Translation Day.” Speaking from a personal standpoint I would like to give my views on the importance of Bible translations. In 1879 the Bible was translated into the Sioux language by two missionaries, Thomas S. Williamson and Stephen R. Riggs. My mother, of the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, became an Episcopalian 75 years ago and while my brothers and I were growing up she saw to it that we would never miss school or church. Her own only reading material was an Indian monthly printed by a mission and the Sioux language translation of the Bible. It is not too much to say that I owe my presence in this August Chamber at this moment to influence exerted on my mother by the Sioux language Bible. My mother was a full-blood Indian without formal education, spoke only broken English, and that only when necessary. Yet she realized that as a devout Episcopalian she must shape her children’s lives to meet the changed conditions of the age.

"The common ground on which many nations and tribes stand today is furnished by the Bible translation into many tongues. Compared with the mere 30 or more U.S. Indian tongues into which scriptural materials have been translated, this looms very large. There is great need to have work on translation as there are approximately 180 Indian tongues currently spoken in the United States.

"The work of translation began long ago. In 1663 the entire Bible was published in the Massachusetts Indian language in a translation by the Reverent John Eliot. This was the first whole Bible translated and printed in a newly discovered language as a means of evangelization and was the first Bible printed in North America.

"We owe an enormous debt to the missionary translators of the Scriptures into American Indian languages. I can think only of the highest words of praise for their efforts and for their choice of life tasks in the endeavor to be of service to God and humanity. It has been said that the harvest is great but the laborers are few. How true this is when we contemplate the history of Bible translating. These men sacrificed the comforts of fireside and home to go out to undeveloped, preliterate peoples, seeking to carry the light to all men. They appear to these people like angels of God, carrying the message of love and hope and faith to the ends of the earth."