A Comparative Study of to Alfa Kai to Omega in the Greek New Testament (Revelation 1:8) and Asante-Twi Bible

Bible Translation has been a means the Church uses to bring the Gospel into the language of the recipients to help improve the quality of life of the indigenes. Nonetheless, it must be noted that all over the world most Bible translation materials have experienced numerous revision exercises. An example of this is the Asante-Twi versions of the Bible which has witnessed two revision works; one on the whole Bible in 2012 since its publication in 1964, and a revised New Testament version published in 2013. Even with the recent revised ones, there still exist translation problems, for some words are strange or foreign to the Asante-Twi speaking people; clear example is Revelation 1:8 which is the focus for this study. Using Mother-tongue Biblical Hermeneutics methodology, this thesis delves into the meaning of the Alfa ne Omega no in the Asante-Twi context and its usage in Revelation 1:8; vis-à-vis an exegesis of the Greek word to. a;lfa kai. to. w = , to find its equivalence in the Asante-Twi. It was found from the study that Ahyjasej ne Awieej no is the best rendition of to. a;lfa kai. to. w = . This work has thus added an Akan translation and interpretation of Revelation 1:8 to the knowledge of the field of mother-tongue hermeneutics; and it is being recommended that in the future revision of the Asante-Twi Bible, the Bible Society of Ghana should consider using A hyjasej ne Awieej to translate to. a;lfa kai. to. w = (to alpha kai to omega) in Revelation 1:8.


INTRODUCTION
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o opines that "If you know all the languages of the world but not your mother tongue, that is enslavement. Knowing your mother tongue and all other languages too is empowerment." 2 This statement brings out the necessity to offer the message of the gospel to the African, who is now not under colonial rule, in their mother-tongues, for the Bible was written in the ordinary dialects of the original recipients. Such a statement seeks to decolonise the minds of Africans from setting great store of other languages than that of their mother-tongue. It brings out the need to offer the message of the gospel to the African in African mother-tongues. This has led to the translation of the Bible into different languages which seeks to make scripture applicable in an African culture and worldview for a better understanding to the African Christian.
indigenes to accept the gospel message and identify themselves with it, for when Scripture is translated into a mothertongue it become foreign no more to the receptor culture. It becomes part of the culture since it uses categories from that very culture. 4 David Dewey gives two suggestions for Scriptures to be understood in a different environment other than the original audience of the writer; either one learns the biblical languages or accesses the Word of God in its translated form. 5 Since people shun away from learning the biblical languages as they see it as a difficult task, Dewey's second choice of accessing God's word in its translated form turns out to be an ideal substitute for Christian worship among Africans. But accessing the Word of God in its translated form is at times problematic and can lead to wrong theologising. In situations where the translated texts were not done properly, Bible users resort to such translations without their knowledge; hence take them to be the appropriate one. Again, where original texts are not translated properly, but borrowed and 'loaned' into a particular language, indigenes take such words as without error or non-foreign, and wholly accept them as such. This article critically examines to. a; lfa kai. to. w= (to alpha kai to omega) in the Greek New Testament (Revelation 1:8) and Asante-Twi Bible (AsTB).
The Asantes (Ashantis) form part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region in Ghana. The Asantes speak the Twi language which is a commonly spoken language in Ghana. 6

METHODOLOGY
The mother-tongue biblical hermeneutics approach which uses exegesis was used for this study. This approach is an offshoot of African Biblical Studies, and employs several disciplines which includes Biblical studies, Bible translation studies and Biblical language studies along with indigenous African or Ghanaian languages. 7 As a way of ensuring that translated texts are closely related to the original texts, this method examines the text exegetically, and looks into how the text has been translated accurately into the indigenous language (mother-tongue) for readers to understand in their own language as intended by the author(s) of the biblical text.
A mixed method was engaged in this research to collect data. Primary data were collected from one hundred and five (105) people; one hundred (100) were through questionnaires in Amansie Communities-East, West, Central and South-in Ashanti Region, and five (5) were by interviews. Those interviewed were educationists, scholars and traditional rulers. Secondary data were obtained from lexicons, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, books, journal articles, and any other relevant materials that were useful in the research.
All the hundred respondents do not read Greek so a summary of the text to. a; lfa kai. to. w= (to alpha kai to omega) was rendered in English to bring out the exact meaning to them to know how they would have translated to. a; lfa kai. to. w= (to alpha kai to omega) to Asante-Twi considering the context of the text.

Exegesis of the Text Brief Background to the Book of Revelation
The book of Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ was received by John at Patmos, a Roman penal colony, 8 between 92-96 CE 9 . In the Roman law, any religion was illegitimate, illegal or unofficial outside its country of a starting point.  Adherents of Christianity, which is an offshoot of Judaism, took advantage of this freedom to shelter under the canopy of the Jewish religion as a Jewish sect for their meetings and other activities. 11 But this could not continue when two unfortunate incidences happened which severed the relationship between the Jews and Christians: the dreadful inferno that broke out in Rome in May 64 AD, fuming for six days and seven nights of which Christians, under the influence of the Jews, were accused, and the Jewish War that broke out in 66-70 AD, where Christians did not want to associate with the Jews. 12 After the war, Judaism closed its ranks with all Christians, and took a step ladder to eliminate all heretics from the synagogue, especially the Christians. 13 This brought an enmity between the Christians and Jews leading to a long-standing disengagement. 14 The synagogue outside Palestine had long appealed to Gentile adherents, but then Christianity began to snip them with the proposal of what had seemed to the Jews as cheap salvation, which is receiving salvation without the compulsion to be circumcised and keeping the Law of Moses. 15 The Jews who were peeved from the activities of these Christians became jealous of the way and manner people were trooping for the cheap salvation at the expense of the Jewish religion. 16 This took the practice of legal accusation by informers and theological controversy. 17 Christians who were accused by informers were to be executed if they declined to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. 18 To escape this excruciating situation and avoid legal harassment, some Christians were tempted to adopt a Jewish lifestyle to reduce their rate of an evangelistic campaign. 19 But this was to have an attack on their theology which would have been abandoned. While some Christians mentioned by informers left without ever confirming their identity, others said they had given up some years. 20 Similar pressures were mounted in the province of Asia, where the seven churches were to be situated. Recanted Christians who were apostates were cheered to declaim a prayer to the gods, and to make supplication with incense and wine to the statute of the emperor, and above all to curse Christ. 21 However, other Christians remained aloof and did not mingle their faith with that of the province which was an atmosphere infused by the symbols of the old fertility cults and of the deified state and emperor. 22 Another problem pertaining to the times was posed by trade guilds, which were many in Thyatira. 23 Wherever guilds were found, idolatry and immorality-the two great enemies of the early church-were virtually always present too. Membership involved religious ceremonies which were no doubt merely conventional to most members, including 'staunch' Christians. 24 The question as to whether Christians could partake or back out was a debate in the times. Backing out meant resistance to the state. 25 It was from this backdrop that the author, who had been exiled by Emperor Domitian for his Christian missionary activities of admonishing fellow Christians to live a godly lifestyle and testifying of Jesus Christ as the saviour of the world, wrote the book of Revelation as an inspiration and encouragement to the churches that were suffering from this increasing hostility and as a caveat to those Christians who careless, and those who felt like leaving the faith for the world. This message was given by God through an angel in symbols. 26 Among these symbols was to. a; lfa kai. to. w= (to alpha kai to omega) which God used to disclose Himself to His own via John to show that He is the One who controls at the start and close of time. 27 And is rightly recognised as the Lord of everything that occurs through time.

Delimitation of the Text
The text under consideration in the remotest context falls within the first part of the book of Revelation which describes the post-resurrection ministry of the glorified Lord (1:1-20). In the immediate context (1:4-8), the narrations contain John's greetings to the seven churches in the province of Asia from the triune God. This was to remind them that it was the triune God who had saved them, and would keep them as they faced the fiery trials of suffering. 28 He afterward gave a description of Jesus Christ as the faithful witness, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world (v. 5). He then touched on Jesus' blood shed for humankind, and gave praise to His name for such a sacrifice, which had translated them to become kingdom of priests for God the Father (v. 6). The author drew the attention of his hearers on the return of Jesus Christ, who is the head and avenger of evil deeds, to defeat all evil and establish His reign (v. 7). The author closes his salutation by redirecting his hearers' attention unto God, who gave Jesus Christ the apocalypse and was given to John by an angel (1:1), for Christians to know who God is (v. 8). He (John) disclosed God as the Alpha and the Omega to make it clear that He is certainly able to work out His divine purposes in human history. 29

Structure of the Text
The text gives a description of who God is; as the One who overrules all the earth. He does not cease to exist, is unchangeable, and above all has an unlimited power. The whole text under consideration is considered as titles given to God to make it clear that He is certainly able to work out His divine purposes in human history. 30 The text could be treated in two main sections-first section [independent clause] and second section [dependent clause]. The independent clause introduces God as saying, VEgw, eiv mi to. a; lfa kai. to. w= (Rev. 1:8a). 31 The dependent clause gives additional description of God as o` h= n kai. o` h= n kai. o` ev rco, menoj( o` pantokra, twr' (Rev. 1:8b). The second part derives a complete meaning from the main clause. This article is limited to the first section of the text, for it contains the text under study.

Self-disclosure of God's Lordship -Rev. 1:8
The Greek word Ego in its nominative case when joined to a verb, generally have force and emphasis, or indicate antithesis as in Matthew 3:11 and Mark 1:8. 32 By parsing, Ego is a first person singular personal pronoun in the nominative case. This is very significant, for it identifies the speaker as the subject of the sentence. As a subject, it gives more emphasis of the verb eimi, which as a substantive verb has the force of a predicate meaning, "to be," which is "to exist" as in Hebrews 11:6; "to stay, remain, be in a place" as in Matthew 2:13, 15; "to live" as in Matthew 23:30; and "to be found". 33 This means that the subject of the text (in this case, God) exists, lives, or remains in the place, and does not cease to exist. As a copula, eimi connects the subject with the predicate, to show who or what a person or thing is with respect to their character, nature, disposition, race, power, dignity, greatness, age, etc. 34 This means that the subject of the text, which the narrator tells us as God exists as someone with great power. By parsing, eimi is a first person present active singular verb that indicates that the speaker is referring to himself to be in existence. 35 Thus, the narrator wants us to know that God exists and continues to exist. Giving a force to the subject, Ego eimi expresses emphasis, and it is accompanied by a predicate in most cases as in John 8: 24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5, 6, 8. a; lfa (alpha) is a letter that begins the Greek alphabet. According to Thayer, a; lfa (alpha) opens the series of the Greek alphabet. 36 w= (omega) is the symbol for omega and is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. w= (omega) is used for closing the Greek alphabet. 37 The narrator used these two Greek letters for God as symbols of the first (or beginning) and the last (or end) meeting in Him. Thus, just as a; lfa (alpha) agglomerate on to w= (omega) and omega comes back again to alpha, so He might show that both the evolution of the beginning and the end is in Him, and again the return of the end to the beginning. 38 a; lfa kai. w= (alpha kai omega) are qualified each by the definite article to. (to), translated as "the," to serve as a determiner. As a determiner, the narrator used to. (to) to introduce or refer to a specific noun, which is Alpha and Omega. This is very important in this research, as the narrator's selection of to. (to) was to place much emphasis on the 28 Warren W. Wiersbe J. E. Harry, Alpha and Omega, Gen. Ed. (International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1915), accessed June 15, 2019 from https://www. biblestudytools.com/dictionary/alpha-and-omega/ . Cited in Cyprian, Testim ii. 1;vi.22,iii.100,Paulinus of Nola Carm. xix.645;xxx.89;Prudentius,Cathem., letters chosen for God. According to Blount, John used the Alpha and the Omega to give a political counterpropaganda of the title that were used for celebrating a deity as lord. 39 And since God is Lord (Lev. 18:4,30;Num. 15:41;Ps. 100:3), the narrator coveted the title and placed on it much emphasis to separate it from the other deities that were celebrated; giving Him the name, the Alpha and Omega. Hence, God gives a self-disclosure of Himself as Lord over all lords.
God being the Alpha and the Omega also signifies His role as the One who exclusively exists at the beginning and end of all time. 40 It signifies God as both the Creator and the Redeemer, and the Final Judge of all things. 41 That is to say, God created the world and everything in it, and will bring everything on earth to an end as the final judge of the world. He is the one who controls at the start and close of time, and is rightly recognised as the Lord of everything that occurs through time. 42 He is the first and the last in terms of history (cf. Isa. 41:4;44:6;48:12). It also refers to God's sovereignty and eternal nature as being the First and Last, and the Beginning and End.
kai. (kai)was inserted between a; lfa and w= to connect these single words as in Pharisaioi kai Saddoukaioi (Matt. 16:1). 43 kai could also mean "even," "also," "so then too," "both," "indeed," "moreover," or "therefore." But in this context, the author brings the connection between the two letters. legei comes from the root word legw which is "to say or speak". As a third person present singular verb, legei is translated as "he/she/it is saying or speaking". This brings out clearly that only one person is speaking, and he is God. In context, "he is saying" best fits.
The verb legei qualifies the noun nominative masculine singular kurios ho Theos translated literally as "the Lord God"; to make it clearer that the Lord God is the one speaking in the text.

Problem with the Asante-Twi Translation of Revelation 1:8
The name or title "the Alpha and the Omega" is translated into the Asante language as Alfa ne Omega no. Characters in the text were replaced with the nearest equivalent characters of the Asante-Twi language. This brings out the lack of Asante-Twi language portrayal for God's title or name; generating differing meaning of the text among Asante-Twi Bible users. Struggling for the meaning of the text leads to varied opinions for understanding the text. Again, the current translation of the text makes it difficult for God to have an Asante name, as He is acknowledged in other languages. 44 This a clear example of not giving God a "home" 45 in the Asante language, let alone, speak the Asante-Twi.

FINDINGS
A questionnaire on four (4) different translations of Revelation 1:8 of Asante-Twi was retrieved from one-hundred (100) Asante-Twi mother-tongue readers in some of the Amansie Twi speaking communities, to test their understanding of The results are as follows: God is acknowledged as "Imi ji kekleekle nc kj nyagbe nc" and "Nyee nye Gbãtc ganye Mlcetc" in the Dangme and Ewe languages for "the Alpha and the Omega". 45 A place where the gospel message is giving a cultural name, a local language, received cultural education, and conformed to the cultural mores of the indigenes. That is to say, stripping off the heavenly culture of the 'Word' and making it to accept the culture of the people.
problem, for there is no perfect translation. However, translation should be as close as possible to the original text in its thought and should also take into consideration the portrayal of the language of the indigenes. It is recommended that future revisions of the AsTB can consider the rendition of to. a; lfa kai. to. w= (to alpha kai omega) as Ahyjasej ne Awieej no to express the thoughts originally intended by the author in Revelation 1:8 which also reveals the language portrayal of the Asante-Twi indigenes. It is being recommended that the BSG should consider adopting the findings of this research in the future revision of the Asante-Twi Bible. This is important because God has given to each tribe in the world a special language [mother-tongue (cf. Gen. 11:7)] and expects everyone to relate to Him. Since God speaks all the languages (cf. Rom. 6:11, MSG), it makes no language superior to others. This makes it important for every people group to have the Bible translated into their mother-tongue to help users hear God speak to them in their own.