The books of Ruth and Esther in Siberian Tatar
June 10, 2022
Иллюстрация к Книге Руфь на сибирскотатарском яз. ИПБ, 2022.

As part of the Siberian Tatar Bible translation project, IBT has published a new edition containing two Old Testament books: Ruth and Esther, the only two books of the Bible named after women. Previously, IBT had published the book of Jonah (2019) and Gospel Parables (2020) in Siberian Tatar.

Siberian Tatars are an ethno-territorial subgroup of Tatars in western Siberia that historically formed on the territory of the medieval Siberian Khanate. Siberian Tatars live primarily in the Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Tomsk and Kemerovo regions of the Russian Federation. According to one count, the Siberian Tatars today number about 101,000  people. Their  language belongs to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages ​​and is defined as the eastern dialect of Tatar. However, not all Siberian Tatars understand literary Tatar. Although the literary variant is taught in schools and studied at universities,  at home Siberian Tatars prefer to speak their own variant of the Tatar language.

The Siberian Tatar translation is accompanied by a parallel Russian text. The edition is illustrated with color pictures by Yakut artist Maria Adamova, who previously illustrated the book of Jonah. This book, as well as previous editions in the Siberian Tatar language, can be found in the electronic publications section of the IBT website.

The Siberian Tatar project is continuing its work on the book of Genesis, the Gospel of Mark, and a "Bible Stories" collection. An audio recording of Gospel Parables is also in the plans.