We’ve probably all seen them floating around the Internet: those cat pictures, the ones ranging from morbidly obese felines to noxiously cute kittens, captioned with phrases like “Iz mah house!” and “I can has cheezburger?” They’re LOLcats, an Internet meme that’s become something of a phenomenon.
And apparently, now they have their own translation of the Bible.
The LOLcat Bible Translation Project, begun in July 2007, is nearing completion according to the website. It’s a user-edited site—much like Wikipedia—so anyone can contribute translations. There’s even a link to learn LOLcat, for those of us not in the know.
The LOLcat Bible is the latest to join the ranks of interesting Bible translations available online, oddly reminiscent of the first few pages of a Gideon Bible, where John 3:16 is printed in several different languages. Online, we can now read John 3:16
* in Klingon: vaD joH’a’ vaj loved the qo’, vetlh ghaH nobta’ Daj wa’ je neH puqloD, vetlh ‘Iv HartaH Daq ghaH should ghobe’ chIlqu’, ‘ach ghaj eternal yIn
* in Pig Latin: Or-fay Od-gay o-say oved-lay e-thay orld-way, at-thay e-hay ave-gay is-hay only-ay egotten-bay On-say, at-thay osoever-whay elieveth-bay in-ay im-hay ould-shay ot-nay erish-pay, ut-bay ave-hay everlasting-ay ife-lay
* in Quenya: An Eru si’ mellero i ambar, i antan’ Yondorya nostaina, si’ aiquen i s’ver quetierya ‘mer qual’, mal haryaner cuil’ oia
* and, of course, in LOLcat: So liek teh Ceiling Kitteh lieks teh ppl lots and he sez ‘Oh hai I givez u me only kitteh and ifs u purrz wit him u wont evr diez no moar, k?’
Fun as the novelty may be of quoting verses in Tolkien’s ancient elvish language, at the same time that folks are working on translating the Bible into LOLcat, millions of people around the world still have no access to Scripture in their own tongue.
According to Wycliffe Bible Translators, some 200 million people worldwide have never seen a Bible in their own language. Wycliffe’s ongoing mission is to bring Bibles to these people, Bibles translated into their native languages. Vision 2025, an initiative launched by Wycliffe U.K. to begin a translation program for every language that needs one by the year 2025, states that over 2,000 languages are waiting for this Bible translation work to begin. And launching translation programs is just the beginning of the process. Considering that translation of the New Testament alone can take up to 20 years, bringing God’s Word to “every tribe and language and people and nation” is quite the daunting project.
And it kind of makes you rethink the humor value of the LOLcat Bible.
