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Faithful souls, doubtful tongues. Many believers do not speak the language that their religion considers sacred. They pray in words whose meaning is beyond them, with the notion that their mother tongue lacks the power of sanctity, the truthfulness, of the ‘language of God’, be that Hebrew, Arabic or Latin. But what is it that keeps a language sacred in the eyes of a multilingual faithful? And can a translation ever come close to expressing the divine words of God?

In a two part series for Heart and Soul, Emre Azizlerli looks first at the Bible. Jews still believe in the sacredness of Hebrew, whereas the Christian Bible is constantly translated and re-versioned to appeal to modern audiences all around the world. Is something lost in translation, or does speaking the word of God in your mother tongue bring you closer to your faith?