two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” If we fall, if our zeal cools; if we go under when Satan attacks, we shall be unable to offer public sacrifices of praise to Jehovah. To avoid this calamity we must not forsake assembling together. Do not be a lone sheep, for a sheep away from the flock is a lost sheep. Faithful servant shepherds of the congregation strive diligently to restore lost sheep to the fold of the New World society. (Matt. 18:12-14) So do not overestimate your spiritual strength and think you can go it alone pursuing selfish interests, flouting the sound principle of assembling together: “The recluse seeks his own selfish interests; he quarrels with every sound principle.”—Prov. 18:1, AT.

17. How must we take teaching from Jehovah?

¹⁷ If we are to get in our possession acceptable fruits and unblemished bullocks of the lips we must take teaching from Jehovah. Take it through Bible reading. Take it by systematic study. Take it at congregational meetings. Especially there does Jehovah spread a spiritual meal on his table. Come and get it! Do you have your meals of physical food served in bed? If you value them enough to go to the table for them, do you not value the more important spiritual food that much? Jehovah does not cater to laziness by serving spiritual meals in bed or at homes away from congregational meeting places. Go to the table, go to the Kingdom Hall! Unless we do all these necessary things we are not being diligent in getting the words we need for sound, healthful and enlightening sacrifices of praise. We shall fall shamefully short of the inspired exhortation: “Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.”—2 Tim. 2:15, NW.

Problems in Bible Translation

● No other book has been translated into more languages than the Bible. At least one book of the Bible has been translated into 1,084 different tongues. How many more tongues are there that do not have the Bible yet? About 2,000. But these are mostly tribal tongues spoken mainly in New Guinea, Africa, Southeast Asia and among the South American Indians. So the remaining tongues are not spoken by many, probably by much less than five percent of the world’s population. To bring the Bible to people who speak these tribal tongues often presents big problems to Bible translators. There are just not enough words in these languages to make literal translation possible. Local idioms, often amusing and odd to English-speaking people, must be used. According to an official of the American Bible Society the Gbeapo people of Liberia have no word for “prophet”; the word has to be translated “God’s towncrier” to be understood. The word “worship” in the language of the Cuicatec Indians of Mexico becomes “wagging one’s tail before God.” And in the tongue of the Chokwe tribe in South Africa the phrase “he smote his breast” has to be phrased “he beat his head.” This is because smiting one’s breast, to these tribesmen, is a gesture meaning approval. So if the phrase were translated literally, it would mean just the opposite of what is intended—it would convey the meaning expressed in English by the phrase “he patted himself on his back.”