IBT has published a Karachai translation of the book of Jonah. This is the first book of the Old Testament translated by IBT into the Karachai language. Prior to that, the Gospel of Mark (1978) and the Gospel of Luke (1999) were published in Karachai.

The Karachais are a Turkic-speaking people living mostly in the foothills of the northwestern Caucasus, in the Karachai-Cherkess Republic of the Russian Federation. The total number of Karachai speakers in Russia according to the 2010 census is 305,364 people (this figure includes speakers of the closely related Balkar language).

The translation of Jonah was published as an illustrated edition with artwork produced by an artist from the Caucasus and with a parallel Russian and English text, the latter for attracting the interest of young Karachais who are learning English. The Karachai Bible translation team is continuing work on selected books of the Old Testament. The narrative portion of the book of Daniel (chs. 1-6) has already been translated and is scheduled for publication in 2023.

The PDF version of Jonah in Karachay is available for download from IBT’s website.