Support us now!

The Institute for Bible Translation Russia/CIS is a non-profit organization financed through contributions from individuals, sponsoring organizations and foundations. By clicking on the "Contribute" button in the main menu, you can easily make a one-time or regular (monthly) donation, that will support our Bible translation projects.

30th anniversary of IBT in Russia

In 2025 IBT celebrates the 30th anniversary of its work in Russia. The anniversary celebration was held as part of an international conference called "Linguistic Forum 2025: Bible Translation as a Means of Language Preservation and Development. Traditions and New Approaches," organized by IBT and the Institute of Linguistics (RAS).  Read more

news-30122024

In late 2024 IBT published the second edition of "Stories about Jesus Christ" by Ivan Shtygashev (1861-1915) in the Shor language. The Shors are a Turkic people living in the south of the Kemerovo region of the Russian Federation. Mountain Shoria, where most Shor speakers live, borders on Khakassia and the Altai Mountains. The administrative centre of Shoria is the town of Tashtagol...

news-23122024

The Institute for Bible Translation has published a series of books in four dialects of the Romani language. The new editions contain translations of selected books from the Old and New Testament: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah and the Gospel of John. The Romani language belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of Indo-European languages, i.e., it is related to the languages of India and Pakistan. Four dialects of Romani that are widespread in Russia were chosen for the translation of the Holy Scriptures: Vlax, Lovari, Crimean and Servi...

news-18122024

Forty people, representatives of eleven small ethnic groups of Russia, gathered in Moscow on 17-18 December for the IBT seminar dedicated to Scripture Engagement. The main message and slogan of the event was: "The Bible translated into a new language should not remain on the shelf". Participants deepened their understanding of the basic principles of organising the work of Scripture Engagement through the inspiring and lively presentation of the keynote speaker.

news-14102024

The Institute for Bible Translation has recently published the book of Psalms in the Lezgi language.

The Psalms are ancient Hebrew hymns that express the various emotional experiences of believers, including joy, sorrow, and hope. The Psalter has long been regarded as a source of inspiration for prayer by people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and has exerted a significant influence on poets and writers throughout the ages.
The present edition has been printed in the Lezgi language, which is spoken by one of the indigenous ethnic groups of the North Caucasus. This language is part of the Nakh-Dagestani language group and is predominantly spoken in southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan...

news-23092024

The Institute for Bible Translation has recently published the book of Ecclesiastes in the Gagauz language. Gagauz belongs to the Oghuz subgroup of Turkic languages and is spoken by about 180,000 people living mainly in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia within the Republic of Moldova, where it is one of the official languages along with Moldovan and Russian.

This is the first-ever translation of Ecclesiastes into Gagauz. The translation team included translator Petri Çebotari (Gagauz writer, scholar and compiler of the Gagauz-Russian-Romanian dictionary) and philological editor Dr. Ivanna Bankova. The project also involved biblical scholars who carefully checked the translation against the original Hebrew text and testers who ensured that it was understood by different groups of readers...