Eternity News | October 13th, 2014 04:17 PM
Good news for the polyglots amongst us. In a collaboration between over 150 Bible Societies, publishers and organisations, the YouVersion Bible app now comprises 1,000 Bible versions in over 700 languages. That means 70 per cent of the world’s population could find a version of the Bible in their language, on the free app.
Bobby Gruenewald, co-founder of the YouVersion app, says “it’s unprecedented in history having so many Bible versions in the palm of your hand – something we never imagined was possible even a few years ago.”
Several of the languages now available on the app are only spoken by a tiny number of people: Huilliche for 2,000 Chilean brothers and sisters, and Ama for 480 speakers in Papua New Guinea. The 1,000th digital Bible translation was Deftera Lfida Dzratawi, a New Testament translated by Wycliffe into Hdi, a language spoken by nearly 45,000 people mostly in Cameroon and Nigeria.
With over 7,100 languages spoken in the world today, this accomplishment represents less than 10% of all spoken languages. United Bible Societies report that of these, 4,455 still have no Scriptures at all, 1,295 have only the New Testament, and 844 have just portions of the Bible. So there’s more work to be done.
Bible Society Australia is supporting the 100 Bibles in 1,000 Days project in 2014 in collaboration with United Bible Societies, supporting three of the translation projects, assisting Bible Societies in the South Pacific, Côte d’Ivoire and Bolivia. The 100 Bibles project has the potential to reach over 500 million people with the word of God. Find out more, here.
Email This Story
Why not send this to a friend?
Read Next
21 seriously good folks who made seriously good news in 2021
YouVersion celebrates 500 million reach
The Bible Verse of the Year ... again
Christian news: 21 weird, wonderful and unexpected things that happened in 2021
Do not fear: announcing the Bible verse of the year
Everyday Christian: Ponytail palms and pots, Hemingway and Hillsong
The Indigenous Bible translation glass is half-full, not half-empty
'You can't speak your language. You can't change the Bible ...'
A passion for translation they hope to pass on
Making the stories of God accessible to Indigenous Australians
A lifetime of helping Indigenous Christians meet God in language
Why the work of Indigenous Bible translation will never be finished
From fires to flood, pandemics to persecution – Eternity was there
Mission chief wants to see gospel shared phone by phone
Latest
Farewell from the Eternity team
As Eternity News draws to a close, our team offers you, dear reader, our personal,…
What to watch this Easter (plus Eternity's highest rated movies)
Looking for some entertainment for the Easter weekend? Here’s a collection of three Easter-related movies…