“David” and “Solomon” in the Dungan language
March 20, 2023

The Institute for Bible Translation is continuing its series of short "Stories of the Prophets" in the Dungan language, telling the story of biblical prophets who are revered by Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike. The newest books in the series are David and Solomon.

Previous editions in this series were Moses (2022), Jonah (2022), Abraham (2019), Joseph (2019), and Noah (2016). The texts of the Dungan translation are accompanied by a parallel Russian text and colorful illustrations by the Dungan artist Khalida Shimova, who portrayed the biblical characters as closely as possible to the Dungan readers’ worldview, psychology, and way of life. Their faces, clothing and surroundings are portrayed in the Dungan tradition.

The Dungans historically originated from China and now live mainly in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Their language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family (about 100,000 speakers in Central Asia, with millions more in China). The written form of their language in Central Asia is based on the Cyrillic script. Most Dungans are Muslims.

Both of these books can be read in PDF format on the IBT website and can be downloaded to mobile devices as a handy app from Google Play and AppStore. Audio versions of these books can also be heard on the IBT website in the audio section.