From their first encounters with Christian missionaries, the North American Plains Indians used universal sign language to communicate Psalm 23 among tribes who spoke different oral languages. In1894, Isabel Crawford, a Baptist missionary to the Kiowa Indians in Oklahoma, translated the Sign Version into literal English. Here is the Psalm 23 translation:
The Great Father above is a shepherd Chief.
I am His and with Him I want not.
He throws out to me a rope and the name of the rope is love and He draws me to where the grass is green and the water not dangerous, and I eat and lie down and am satisfied.
Sometimes my heart is very weak and falls down but
He lifts me up again and draws me into a good road.
His name is WONDERFUL.
Sometime, it may be very soon, it may be a long, long time.
He will draw me into a valley.
It is dark there, but I’ll be afraid not, for it is in between those mountains that the Shepherd Christ will meet me and the hunger that I have in my heart all through this life will be satisfied.
He gives me a staff to lean upon.
He spreads a table before me with all kinds of foods.
He puts His hand upon my head and all the “tired” is gone.
My cup He fills till it runs over. What I tell is true. I lie not.
These roads that are “away ahead” will stay with me through this life and after; and afterwards I will go to live in the great house and sit down with the Shepherd Chief forever.
Have a blessed day!
Kev
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