It’s a perfect learning tool for a school system that preaches Christian and Hawaiian values.

The newly released Hawaiian-English Bible “Ke Kauoha Hou me Ka Buke o Nā Halelū a me Nā ʻŌlelo Akamai a Solomona – The New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs” is the result of a partnership between Kamehameha Schools and Partners in Development Foundation.

The bilingual Bible with parallel text offers readers in both languages a better understanding of scripture and allows for comparative study. It includes Hawaiian diacriticals, biblical maps, The New American Standard Concordance, a 19th-century timeline for Hawaiʻi, Psalms, The Ten Commandments and Proverbs.

The Bible includes introductory material relating to the life and faith of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and features a blue bonded leather cover with silver foil stamping on the front and spine.

While each campus will rollout this new instructional tool in different ways, both students and staff will benefit from its various components.

“The desire of nā kahu (the chaplains) – myself, Kordell Kekoa at Kapālama, and Ruth Farrell at KS Hawaiʻi – is to get the students into the word of God,” said KS Maui Kahu Kalani Wong. “Through the study of scriptures, our students are able to develop their faith, find support and encouragement and to know the promise of life eternal through Jesus Christ.” 

According to Partners in Development Foundation Project Director Helen Kaowili, this is not the first time a Hawaiian-English bilingual Bible has been produced.

“The first Baibala (Bible) to include both Hawaiian and English was a New Testament printed in 1857 and reprinted a number of times since then,” said Kaowili. “This, however, is the first time the Psalms and Proverbs will appear in parallel Hawaiian-English form and the first bilingual edition to include the modern Hawaiian text.”

Kaowili, a Kamehameha Schools graduate and the daughter of former KS Chaplain David Kaupu, said the Hawaiian Bible project was originally begun in 2002.

“The Hawaiian Bible project began in 2002 to preserve the Bible and make it available online, free of charge, for anyone interested in reading and studying scripture in Hawaiian. At the time, the American Bible Society, the publisher of record since the early 1800s, had decided to discontinue printing the ‘Baibala Hemolele’ (Holy Bible). Ten years later, in 2012, the project printed the first Hawaiian Bible in the modern Hawaiian orthography. The publication we just completed marks the second printed work of the project,” she said.

Kaowili said Kamehameha Schools was a supporter of the Hawaiian Bible project prior to this current phase.

“Keola Wong worked with the Baibala Hemolele project during the 2009-10 school year while he was on sabbatical and again the following year, 2010-11, on special assignment from his duties as Hawaiian language teacher at KS Kapālama High School,” she said.

“During the current phase of the project, which began in the spring of 2013 and culminates in the printing and distribution of the bilingual New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs, Kamehameha supported the undertaking with Keola’s full-time work on the project on special assignment during the 2013-14 school year, and by placing staff on the advisory committee.”

The advisory committee for Kamehameha Schools included: Campus Education VP Dr. Rod Chamberlain, Keola Wong, KS Maui Hawaiian Protocol Facilitator Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier, and Kahu Kalani Wong; for Partners in Development Foundation the committee members included Jan Dill, Laura Dang and Kaowili.

“From my initial conversation with nā kahu and Jan Dill three years ago, this has been a wonderful journey from concept to reality,” Chamberlain said. “This New Testament is a marker of what we hold dear as an organization – and I am hopeful it will be one more way that we nurture the ‘good and industrious men and women’ envisioned by our founder.”

Kaowili said the best thing about the project is that the Hawaiian Bible is once again in wide use in the Hawaiian community.

“Soon after the release of ‘Ka Baibala Hemolele’ in October 2012, a second printing a month later was necessary to keep up with demand,” she said. “In addition, our website at baibala.org, which includes complete text and images of the 1839 ‘Ka Palapala Hemolele,’  the 1868 revision ‘Ka Baibala Hemolele,’ and the 1994 ‘Ka Baibala Hemolele,’ along with the full text of the recently completed 2012 ‘Ka Baibala Hemolele,’ is regularly accessed over 10,000 times a month by users around the world.”

Mutual Publishing is making these Bibles available to anyone interested in reading the scriptures in Hawaiian and/or English for a special price of $27 including tax until December 31, 2014.

They can be ordered online at www.mututalpublishing.com or by mailing the completed order form (available at baibala.org) to Mutual Publishing, 1215 Center Street, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI, 96816. The Bibles will be available for pick-up at Mutual Publishing on September 2, 2014, or can be mailed anywhere in Hawai‘i for an additional $6 and to the mainland for $10.

“With the Baibala Hemolele, our students are able to read God’s word in the Hawaiian language,” Kahu Wong added. “Kamehameha’s goal is to have our students proficient in the Hawaiian language upon graduation.  While some are, others are not quite there. The bilingual Baibala Hemolele will help our students see scripture in both English and Hawaiian.  This will hopefully provide them with a deeper understanding of the rich lessons that the Bible offers.”

This has been a wonderful journey from concept to reality. This New Testament is a marker of what we hold dear as an organization – and I am hopeful it will be one more way that we nurture the ‘good and industrious men and women’ envisioned by our founder.
Dr. Rod Chamberlain, VP for Campus Education

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