The book of Jonah in the Southern Altai language (Siberia) in the style of an Altai epic poem performed by throat singing - a design for a performance in a local genre based on an oral bible translation.

Oral Bible translation and biblical performance in local genres are relevant topics in today’s world of Bible translation. This paper will present the design for a performance of the book of Jonah, orally translated into Southern Altai, in the style of a traditional Altai epic poem. The paper will initially examine the stages of oral Bible translation, and how Jonah was translated orally. Then the advantages of using performance as part of Bible translation and Scripture Engagement will be discussed, including how such a performance can aid the translation process. The paper will then briefly analyse some of the oral rhetorical features of traditional Altai epic poetry and see how the orally translated Jonah epic reflects some of these features. The paper will then assess the audience’s reaction to the performance of Jonah and draw out principles about how to design such a performance. It is concluded that this is one of the most effective ways of communicating God’s message with this oral preference community.