BIBLE-A ALKATRA & MI DUM

Kâr kal ta Ningani (4.7.2019) khân kohhran pâwl pakhat lehkhabu zawrhnaah ka lût zawk a; a nghâktunu pu leh ka pate kha kum 1911–1924 khân in khata lo chêng ho tawh an ni a. Mizo Revised Bible tûr kan buatsaih lai a ni tih ka sawi zauh a. Ani chuan Bible an zawrh lai pakhat chu thur chhuakin ‘alkatra’ tih hman a nih ták avànga a hriat thiam loh thu leh tûn hma chuan an kohhran hotupa berin zawrh tûra lák a phal loh thu a sawi a. Bible-a alkatra tih lo lang ta mai hi tûn thleng hian ngeih lo riau an la awm reng a; chuvàngin a chìn chhuak deuh hleka chhui a ṭûlin ka hria. 

Mizo Bible bu kim lo chhuah (1959) khân Gen 6.14-a Nova lawng kha ‘fâr thinga’ siam tih a ni a. Mizo Bible ennawnna Pulpit Bible-ah pawh tidanglam loin ‘fâr thing’ tih a la ni zêl. Bible lehlin thar (Common Language/CL)-ah erawh chuan ‘thing ṭha chi’ tih a ni ta thung a; a hnuaia note-ah chuan, “Heb. Gofer: eng thing nge hriat a ni tawh lo,” tih a ni. Nova lawng chàrna kha Mizo Bible hmasa ber leh Pulpit Bible-ah chuan ‘fâr hnai’ tih a ni a; Mizo Bible (O.V) Re-edited, 2017-ah pawh, “a pâwn lam chu fâr hnai i hnawih vek bawk tûr a ni,” tih a la ni ta fan a. Lehlin thar (CL)-ah erawh chuan ‘alkatra’ tih a ni ta. 

Gen 14.10-a Sodom leh Gomorra khaw lalte tlànchhia tlâkna khur kha Mizo Bible hmasa berah ‘lawnghnai khur’ tih a ni a. Pulpit Bible-ah ‘alkatra khur’ tih a ni ta thung a; lehlin tharah pawh ‘alkatra khur’ tih a ni. Exod 2.3-a Mosia thuhrûkna luang lawng kha Mizo Bible hmasa berah chuan “chirh leh lawnghnaiin an chãr” tih a ni a. Pulpit Bible-ah ‘chirh leh alkatra’ tih a ni ta a; lehlin tharah chuan “hlum an bel a, alkatra-in an zût phui a,” tih a ni. 

Gen 6.14-a ‘fâr hnai’ tih hi Hebrai Bible-ah ‘kofer’ tih a ni a; hei hi fâr thing sawina ‘gofer’ nèn thuhmun a ni lo. Gen 14.10-a ‘lawnghnai khur’ emaw ‘alkatra khur’ emaw tih hi Hebrai Bible-ah chuan ‘µêmâr’ (khemar tia lam tùr) tih a ni a. Exod 2.3-a Mizo Bible hmasa bera ‘chirh leh lawnghnai’ tih leh Pulpit Bible-a ‘chirh leh alkatra’ tih tâk hi Hebrai Bible-ah chuan ‘µêmâr’ leh ‘zâphet’ tih a ni. ‘Zâphet’ hi Isaia 34.9-ah ‘lawnghnai’ tih a ni leh a; lehlin tharah erawh chuan ‘alkatra’ tih a ni. Tùnah chuan English Bible lehlin hrang tam tak a awm tawh a; chûng zînga keima neih 20 chuang ka’n en chuan kum 1611–1996 chhûnga lehlin zîngah 16-ah chuan Gen 6.14-a ‘fâr hnai’ tih hi ‘pitch’  tih a ni a; lehlin dang 5-ah erawh chuan ‘tar’ tih a ni. 

Mizo Bible bu kim chhuak hmasa berah Gen 14.10-a ‘lawnghnai khur’ tih hi English Bible lehlin hrang 7-ah ‘bitumen pit’ tih a ni a. Lehlin dang 6-ah ‘tar pit’ an ti a; lehlin 3-ah ‘slime pit’ tih a ni. Lehlin ṭhenkhatah ‘bitumen wells’ tih a ni a; lehlin dang 2-ah ‘asphalt pit’ an ti a. Moffat Bible-ah chuan ‘petroleum wells’ tih a ni. Petrol chu alkatra nèn inkûngkaihna nei a ni. Exod 2.3-a Mosia thuhrûkna luang lawng chãrna kha Mizo Bible hmasa berah ‘chirh leh lawnghnai’ tih a ni a. English Bible lehlin hrang 7-ah chuan ‘bitumen and pitch’ tih a ni a; lehlin dang 4-ah chuan ‘tar and pitch’  tih a ni a. Lehlin dang 2-ah chuan ‘slime and pitch’tih a ni; ‘asphalt and pitch’ tih vawi 1; ‘clay and tar’ tih vawi 1; ‘slime and pitch’ tih vawi 1; ‘water-proofed it with tar’ tih vawi 1; ‘cover it with tar to make it watertight’ tih vawi 4 a awm bawk. Sâp ṭawnga - ‘asphalt, bitumen, pitch, slime, tar’ tihte hi ‘alkatra’ sawina vek a ni.

Hêng English thumalte hi Mizo ṭawngin eng nge ni hlawm? Remkûnga siam Mizo Dictionary (English-Mizo) aṭangin hêng English thumal awmzia hi lo chhui ila. ‘Slime’ chu ‘chirh ban chial chual tenawm tak, thil tuihnãng ban deuh’ tih a ni a. ‘Asphalt’ chu ‘thil hnãng ban, alkatra ang tak, kawng siam nâna hman ṭhin’ tih a ni. ‘Tar’ chu ‘alkatra, kawng siam nâna hman ṭhin’ tih a ni a. ‘Pitch’ chu ‘thil dum hnãng deuh, alkatra aṭanga siam, thil chàr nâna hman ṭhin ‘maṭik’ kan tih mai’ tih a ni leh a. ‘Bitumen’ chu ‘alkatra, thil dum hnãng thluak, kawng siam nâna hman ṭhin’ tih a ni. Mizo ṭawng thumal pakhatin a hming kan la nei lo a; alkatra tih hi kan neih chhun, Mizo ṭawng ang chiaha kan hman a ni ta. 

Eng vàngin nge Gen 6.14-ah ‘fâr hnai’ an lo tih? Nova lawng lian tak mai chàr nân khân fâr hnai tak tak hmang dâwn ta se, a ngai hnem ngawt ang! Mizo Bible lehlin hi Chhim leh Hmàr lamin an insem a; Thuthlung Hlui bu 20 chu Chhim lam lehlin a ni a; chûng zîngah chuan Genesis leh Exodus hi a tel a. A tìrah chuan Genesis hi kum 1924-25-a Pu Buanga lehlin a ni a; a hnûah Rev. Challiana leh Rev. Chuautera-te nên an en tlâng leh vek a. Tûn hma khân Mizo zînga upa deuh, chinchâng hre deuh ka zawh chuan ‘fâr hnai’ chu hmànlai chuan Mizoten thil ban an hriat zîngah ban bera an ngaih a ni a; thil chàr  nân an hmang ṭhin a, mi ṭhenkhat chuan ke khi pawh fâr hnaiin an chàr ṭhin an ti. Chuvàng chuan kan hriat thiam tùrin an lo letling a ni ang. 

Gen 14.10-a ‘lawng hnai khur’ tih hi eng vàng nge? Pu Buanga Dictionary-ah ‘lawng hnai’ tih a awm lo a; Rev. Z.T. Sàngkhûma te unau siam Zoṭawng Dictionary leh Remkûnga siam Mizo Ṭawng Dictionary-ah pawh ‘lawng hnai’ tih chu a awm lo bawk. Chuvàng chuan ‘lawng hnai’ tih hi letlingtute chher chawp a nih hmèl hle.

Pu Buanga Dictionary-ah ‘lawng hnai khur’ tih a awm lo ná a, ‘lawng thing’ tih chu a awm thung a; Pu Buanga Dictionary-ah chuan ‘lawng-thing’ chu, “the name of a large tree, the gurjun (Dipterocarpus turbinatus. Parry). Same as lawng. Gurjun oil is obtained from this tree” tiin dah a ni. Lawng thingin ‘hriak’ a neih thu  pawh a sawi nghâl a nih hi. Bible-ah ‘lawng thing hriak khur’ tih a ni lo a; ‘lawng thing hnai khur’ tih a ni lo bawk a; Bible-ah ‘lawng hnai khur’ tih a ni. Hnial patawka hnial duh tân phei chuan, “Lawng  a hnai ngai em ni?” tih mai tûr a ni ang. Eng pawh ni se, thil pakhat kan hriat tûr chu ‘gurjun’ (Dipterocarpus turbinatus) thing hi Bible ram, Kanaan ram leh Middle East-ah a awm ve lo. 

Bible lehlin hmasaah Gen 14.10-a ‘lawng hnai khur’ an lo tih chu keini hriat ṭhin ‘lawng-thing hnai/hriak khur’ chu a ni lo hrim hrim. Hebrai ṭawngin ‘µemar’ a ni a; Arabic-ah µumar/µamir tih a ni a. A hma lama kan sawi tawh angin Hebrai leh Arabic-ah h hnuaiah dot (.) dah hi ‘kh’ anga lam rîk tùr a ni; hei hi English-a ‘bitumen, asphalt’ an tih chu a ni. 

Kan sawi tawh angin Genesis hi Pu Buanga lehlin a ni a; kum 1924 September thlaah a letling ṭan a, kum 1925-ah a letling zo. Pu Buanga khân Hebrai ṭawnga ‘µemar’ chu ‘lawng-thing hnai’ a ni lo tih a hre chiang hle ang; an ramah chuan ‘bitumen’ (AV/KJV&RV-ah slime) an hmang daih tawh si a. ‘Bitumen’ tih hi kum 1460-ah khân Latin aṭangin English-ah an lo seng lût tawh a; slime tih pawh kum 1530-ah khân Bible-ah an lo hmang tawh. Pu Buanga’n engati nge ‘lawng hnai khur’ tih a hman? A thawhna chhim bial lamah lawng hnai an hriat ṭhan vàng a ni mahná.

Engati nge ‘alkatra’ tih hi kan ngeih loh riau? Kan ram kawng siamtu Dumka mi dumte nèn kan hmehbel vàng a ni ang; alkatra tih ni mah se, mi dum hman ang tak hi a ni lo. Middle East ramte chu ‘oil-in a rai e’ an ti ṭhin a; petrol tamna ram a ni. Alkatra pawh hi ‘oil êk chhia’ chi khat a ni mai a. Tuipui Thi leh a chheh vêl, chhim lamah tùn thlengin alkatra ang deuh, lei hnuai aṭanga rawn so chhuak hmuh tùr a la tam mai; pheikhawk tâng chawt chawt thei khawpa ban a ni. Bible hrilhfiahna lâr tak pakhat, Pulpit Commentary (23 Vols.)-ah chuan Gen 14.10 hrilh fiahnaah, “Tuipui Thi vêla khur ṭhenkhat chu ft 116 zeta thûk, a mawngah ft 15 vêla chhah bitumen hlâwm khâwm awm, dum ngun mai,” tih a ni (H.D.M. Spence & J.S. Exell (edited), The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 1:204).