Chronological Bible Translation

Type “CBT” or “Bible translated” in the comment box on the Donate page.

Intro to CBT

We are excited to introduce the Bible translated into American Sign Language (ASL)!

Our Bible translations are done in sets of passages arranged in chronological order (known as Chronological Bible Translation, or CBT), rather than in book by book order.  This style of translation aims toward helping people better understand salvation by starting with the creation of the world and going forward all the way to Jesus and beyond.  Our translations all also come with introductions and additional videos that provide cultural, historical, and contextual information to help people better understand each Bible passage.  The main goal of CBT is to help the reader learn how each story fits together to create the bigger picture of how much God loves us and wants us to have a relationship with Him.

Intro to CANA

Wycliffe, one of Deaf Harbor’s partners in this project, has a list of strict criteria that all translations of the Bible—in any language—must meet.  We work with Wycliffe to ensure that CBT meets all of their criteria, so that our translations will be approved and recognized as an official translation of the Bible, equal to other Bible translations.

One of Wycliffe’s major requirements is that all translations meet the CANA criteria: Clear, Accurate, Natural, and Acceptable.  For the Accuracy component, we have a certified translation consultant who checks all of our work.  Translation consultants have been trained in the following areas: the Hebrew language and culture, Greek language and culture, Biblical history, linguistics, and ASL.  (Translation consultants must be certified before doing consultation work.) They are responsible for ensuring that our ASL translations are accurate, and they must approve each translation before it is released.

Videos

A list of CBT videos is moved to a new page.

Want to see the new Videos Library?

Our Progress

Our CBT consists of over 450 passages throughout the entire Bible; however, CBT primarily focuses on narratives, which leaves out other genres such as poetry and proverbs. For this reason, Deaf Harbor plans to make a series outside of CBT to cover these other genres. Some of the passages are grouped into a series, so check out our progress on each series plus keep an eye out for new series!

32 Passages 32 Narratives
Date of Completion: December 2013
119 Passages 119 Narratives including revised introduction and more information from 32 Passages completed in 2013
Date of Completion: October 2020
8 Passages We are working on 8 new passages with the hope of adding more.
However, we are in need of further funding to continue this work.