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God Spoke Tibetan: The Epic Story of the Men Who Gave the Bible to Tibet by Allan Maberly
The true story of the men who gave the Bible to Tibet, the Forbidden land.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 22, 2016
"What a view! Have you ever seen anything as beautiful as these mountains?
How can anyone see all this and not believe in God?"
"Which way will you choose, my friends?
One way offers wealth and luxury, but no hope of eternal life.
The other is hard, but leads at last to a golden city with joys forevermore."
A rich, moving, true story. An encouraging, triumphant journey about how the Bible came to Tibet, taking ninety years in total. An amazing tale telling how this group of people were ready to do anything to spread the truth of Jesus and what He did for us. And they did endure awful hardships...............I am truly inspired.
How can anyone see all this and not believe in God?"
"Which way will you choose, my friends?
One way offers wealth and luxury, but no hope of eternal life.
The other is hard, but leads at last to a golden city with joys forevermore."
A rich, moving, true story. An encouraging, triumphant journey about how the Bible came to Tibet, taking ninety years in total. An amazing tale telling how this group of people were ready to do anything to spread the truth of Jesus and what He did for us. And they did endure awful hardships...............I am truly inspired.
October 7, 2013
This was really good for a Bible translation story!!!
April 3, 2014
Wonderful book! This shows the hand of God working in getting the Bible into Tibetan hands.
July 31, 2025
God Spoke Tibetan by Allan Maberly relates the true story of how the Tibetan Bible was created. Beginning as just a vision of two missionaries to Tibet in the late 1800s, the process of translating the Bible in tot he Tibetan language took 90 years to complete. The original translation of the New Testament into the classical Tibetan language turned out to be cumbersome and difficult to understand, and it had to be translated all over again. Satan seemed to work overtime in preventing the translation of Scripture, but God's power eventually won out. The reader is kept entranced by the number of obstacles the translators faced in getting the Bible translated and more so by the way God responded to the prayers of His people. Fascinating read!
May 21, 2022
This book recounts the 90-year story of the making of the first Tibetan Bible, center-staging the Tibetans who worked on the translation rather than the Western missionaries alone. I read it in a day — it’s riveting and concise. A must-read in missions history.
December 4, 2017
3.5 (ish)
November 18, 2022
Such a beautiful story! I think it could have used a couple more rounds of editing, but the story in itself was incredible and fascinating. God is so good ❤️
January 15, 2023
Incredible story of Men who persevered though *so* many trials in order to bring the Word of God to the people of Tibet. I will def be keeping it on my shelf for my sons to read one day !
August 5, 2015
I read this because my daughter has to read it this year, and I liked it much more than I thought I would. I didn't know much about Tibet and that entire region, so I read the book with google maps open, and an occasional google search for terms and items I didn't know well. Even so, I finished this book in less than a day.
The story of how a series of men in a place where there is not even a word for the one true God hear of Jesus and are saved, then determine to translate the Bible and take it back into Tibet. While the process takes far, far longer than anyone expected, and they come against all kinds of obstacles (including many wars and death), I love how, on the last page, the author shines the light of how God's hand directed this in his perfect timing.
The main obstacles for a kid reading this are the same as for most adults: it involves places and names and history and religions that we are probably mostly unfamiliar with. You can read without knowing these and just sort of pick up the general idea as you go along, or you can use it as a launching place to learn more by researching as you read.
The story of how a series of men in a place where there is not even a word for the one true God hear of Jesus and are saved, then determine to translate the Bible and take it back into Tibet. While the process takes far, far longer than anyone expected, and they come against all kinds of obstacles (including many wars and death), I love how, on the last page, the author shines the light of how God's hand directed this in his perfect timing.
The main obstacles for a kid reading this are the same as for most adults: it involves places and names and history and religions that we are probably mostly unfamiliar with. You can read without knowing these and just sort of pick up the general idea as you go along, or you can use it as a launching place to learn more by researching as you read.
March 20, 2019
I read this with my family as a worship book, and it was quite appropriate for it. The writing could've used some work; the first chapter was vivid, and the visuals practically leapt off the pages, but from there on, it was (unfortunately) mostly "telling" and not "showing." Sadly, that took away a lot of the enjoyment for me.
Still, the story is wonderful and often had us at the edge of our seats with suspense. Even though the title gives away that the Bible is indeed brought to Tibet, sometimes the situations left us wondering just how that would happen. The forces of evil worked very hard in trying to keep the Bible out of a country that thirsted for it so badly, but in the end, God triumphed through the work of His faithful followers.
Overall, this story is a powerful testimony to the lengths God goes to to make sure the whole world knows of His Word before the end of time.
Still, the story is wonderful and often had us at the edge of our seats with suspense. Even though the title gives away that the Bible is indeed brought to Tibet, sometimes the situations left us wondering just how that would happen. The forces of evil worked very hard in trying to keep the Bible out of a country that thirsted for it so badly, but in the end, God triumphed through the work of His faithful followers.
Overall, this story is a powerful testimony to the lengths God goes to to make sure the whole world knows of His Word before the end of time.
July 11, 2014
This is a riveting book which chronicles the story of how the Bible was translated into the Tibetan language. It took over a span of 100 years to finish the entire translation. Several wars interrupted the process. God's hand is evident in many of delays that happened. In the end, good wins and over 4,000 Scriptures made their way into Tibet in the early 1980(?)s.
September 13, 2017
This is an account of how the Bible came to be translated into the Tibetan language. As to that, it is an amazing story that deserves to be recounted. However, this book could use some editing to help with timing and segue issues that could cause confusion to the young reader.
June 14, 2019
Although the writing could be better, and the story gets a bit choppy in a few places, God Spoke Tibetan, certainly tells a fantastic century-long story of the bible's translation to Tibetan, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
January 18, 2020
This book has the potential to be great, but the author falls short in clarity and flow. I did enjoy the story of how the Bible was translated into the Tibetan language, but this won’t be one of the books I keep on my bookshelves for re-reading.
Read
September 25, 2013great
August 10, 2016
Very inspiring, as well as challenging. Fascinating to learn more about the Tibetan culture
November 8, 2018
Mediocre writing wrapped around an awesome story - truly worth a read.
July 2, 2020
I really enjoyed this story. The writing feels fairly simple but it seems fitting. The trials and tragedies in this true story are weighty enough on their own, so dramatic language is unnecessary.
December 10, 2019
A marvelous story.
July 6, 2026
The Epic Providential History Behind the Tibetan Bible Translation
Allan Maberly, an Australian Missionary who served along the Indian, Nepal and Chinese Borders, wrote this history of the translation of the Bible from its original languages into Tibetan in 1971. The edition I read was published in India and has a different cover than the editions depicted in Goodreads. But Maberly served in the Himalayan region where the Tibetan Bible originated, spoke fluent Nepali and Tibetan, and had personally met people who were associated with some of the story's events. Thus, this book is a reliable and important history.
In God Spoke Tibetan, Maberly takes the reader back to 19th century events in Tibetan history that providentially opened doors for key personalities behind the Tibetan Bible translation to be introduced to the Gospel, to meet the key European missionaries who initiated the original efforts, and connected other key events and figures all the way through to the independence of India, it's subsequent partition, and the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Throughout this difficult era, key Christians -- Tibetan, Pakistani, Indian, and European -- stayed faithful to the task. Today, a Tibetan Bible, written in a form of Tibetan that is easily understood by the majority of Tibetan people, has made it's way around the Tibet Autonomous Region and among Tibetan exiles. Given all the challenges of Tibetan religious culture, hostility to foreign ideas, Chinese occupation, and remote geography, it is a remarkable achievement.
Maberly's book is a pleasure to read. He was a good writer and story teller. And his book is an important historical record of the modern Tibetan era that is respectful toward Tibetan culture while unafraid to acknowledge the backwardness and superstitious thinking that led to its occupation by China. It should be read by anyone who has an interest in Tibet, in South Asian/Himalayan Missionary work, or Church history. Maberly was a Seventh Day Adventist but a broad minded Evangelical Christian -- he avoids making an issue out of those peculiar SDA doctrines that separate his church from other Protestants. It isn't until the end of the book when he mentions the Adventist medical mission to which he belonged and its efforts to disseminate the Tibetan Bible that his SDA affiliation is even mentioned. American editions of this book are published by Pacific Press, a well-known SDA publishing arm. But my edition was published by a small Indian publishing firm. I picked it up on a trip to either Nepal or India, I can't remember which. It is such a great and classic story. And HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended.
Allan Maberly, an Australian Missionary who served along the Indian, Nepal and Chinese Borders, wrote this history of the translation of the Bible from its original languages into Tibetan in 1971. The edition I read was published in India and has a different cover than the editions depicted in Goodreads. But Maberly served in the Himalayan region where the Tibetan Bible originated, spoke fluent Nepali and Tibetan, and had personally met people who were associated with some of the story's events. Thus, this book is a reliable and important history.
In God Spoke Tibetan, Maberly takes the reader back to 19th century events in Tibetan history that providentially opened doors for key personalities behind the Tibetan Bible translation to be introduced to the Gospel, to meet the key European missionaries who initiated the original efforts, and connected other key events and figures all the way through to the independence of India, it's subsequent partition, and the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Throughout this difficult era, key Christians -- Tibetan, Pakistani, Indian, and European -- stayed faithful to the task. Today, a Tibetan Bible, written in a form of Tibetan that is easily understood by the majority of Tibetan people, has made it's way around the Tibet Autonomous Region and among Tibetan exiles. Given all the challenges of Tibetan religious culture, hostility to foreign ideas, Chinese occupation, and remote geography, it is a remarkable achievement.
Maberly's book is a pleasure to read. He was a good writer and story teller. And his book is an important historical record of the modern Tibetan era that is respectful toward Tibetan culture while unafraid to acknowledge the backwardness and superstitious thinking that led to its occupation by China. It should be read by anyone who has an interest in Tibet, in South Asian/Himalayan Missionary work, or Church history. Maberly was a Seventh Day Adventist but a broad minded Evangelical Christian -- he avoids making an issue out of those peculiar SDA doctrines that separate his church from other Protestants. It isn't until the end of the book when he mentions the Adventist medical mission to which he belonged and its efforts to disseminate the Tibetan Bible that his SDA affiliation is even mentioned. American editions of this book are published by Pacific Press, a well-known SDA publishing arm. But my edition was published by a small Indian publishing firm. I picked it up on a trip to either Nepal or India, I can't remember which. It is such a great and classic story. And HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended.
August 28, 2021
Week one of our homeschool curriculum included this book. This is a story about how the Bible came to be translated and then distributed in Tibet. It took 90 years from start to finish. This illustrates the persistence and faith of so many different people. Bible translation is more than just transcribing the words--it also has to deal with the different cultures and cultural aspects.
The story itself is good, but the writing was, well, very mediocre. There are parts that are good--good story telling and descriptions, followed by long segments of summary, "telling" over "showing".
So this book is more about the story and how the Bible got translated into the Tibetan language and then distributed. To be fair, this book was in the "history" and "Bible" portion of our hs curriculum, and not the "literature" part.
4/5, really 3.5/5. Major points off for the mediocre writing.
The story itself is good, but the writing was, well, very mediocre. There are parts that are good--good story telling and descriptions, followed by long segments of summary, "telling" over "showing".
So this book is more about the story and how the Bible got translated into the Tibetan language and then distributed. To be fair, this book was in the "history" and "Bible" portion of our hs curriculum, and not the "literature" part.
4/5, really 3.5/5. Major points off for the mediocre writing.
January 18, 2022
A true story about the men who worked to bring the Bible to the Tibetan people. With all sort of set backs and struggles, it took well over forty years to accomplish, but God works in his own time. The dedication and diligence shown by the translators, scribes, and just everyone involved was inspiring. To know that there are believers in Tibet, albeit mostly underground, is a true testament to God’s all-reaching presence and power.
July 28, 2024
Amazing story, engagingly written. Quite a page-turner. Perhaps a couple small inaccuracies or old-fashioned descriptions (though consistent with the period of the story); still seemed to me worthy of five stars.
August 17, 2021
Read it on a 6 hour road trip out loud with friends. The book goes by so quick! Very encouraging read. Praying for bible translators around the world.
January 2, 2022
Fascinating, well-researched story about many people coming together, independently, to accomplish a God-given task.
August 22, 2023
2.5 stars
June 14, 2025
Lovely book
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews