Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Official Report 948KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection, and our time for reflection leader today is Gordon Hay, who has spent many years translating the Bible into Doric.

Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for the invitation to share in today’s time for reflection. That invitation came from my having produced the first translation of the whole Bible in any variant of the Scots language, 640 years after the first English translation. I will share a couple of excerpts.

First, why do we speak different languages? Genesis chapter 11 explains:

“Noo, at ae time e hale warl aa spak e same tongue an e same wirds. As fowk wannert aboot i the east, they cam on a bit o flat grun aboot Shinar an sattlt there. They said tae een anither, ‘Come on, an mak a puckle bricks an fire them hard.’ Sae they hid bricks for biggin wi, an dubs tae haud them egither. Syne they said, ‘Fat sorra idder, we’ll bigg wirsels a gran toon wi a muckle tooer wi e tap o’t raxin up tae hivven, an we’ll mak a name for wirsels for fear we be scattert ower aa e warl.’ Syne e Lord cam doon tae see e toon an e tooer att they fowkies hid biggit. An he said, ‘Here they are, ae fowk wi ae tongue an iss is jist e start o’t, seen they’ll be able tae dee onythin they wint. Come on, we’ll gyang doon an mak a mixter-maxter o their wirds an they winna ken fit een anither’s sayin.’ Sae e Lord scattert them awa fae there ower e hale warl an they stoppit biggin e toon. Att’s e wye it’s caaed Babel cause e Lord made a babble o the spik o aa e warl.”

Here is the famous passage from chapter 3 of the book of Ecclesiastes, again from the Old Testament:

“Aathin his its sizzon, an for ilka thing ye dee aneth e hivvens there’s a time:

A time tae be born, an a time tae dee; a time tae shaav, an a time tae hairst; a time tae dee awa wi, an a time tae mak aa better; a time tae pu doon, an a time tae bigg up; a time tae greet, an a time tae lauch; a time tae moorn an a time tae dance; a time tae scatter steens, an a time tae gaither them up; a time tae gie a bosie, an a time tae haud back fae gien a bosie; a time tae sikk, an a time tae tine; a time tae haud on tae things, an a time tae fling awa; a time tae rive, an a time tae sort; a time tae be quait, an a time tae spik oot; a time tae loo, an a time tae hate; a time for waar, an a time for peace.”

Those words, written 2,500 years ago, are still pertinent today.

Thank you for the invitation. [Applause.]