IBT has recently published a trial translation of the Old Testament books of Ruth and Jonah in the Gagauz language. Gagauz is a Turkic language spoken by approximately 170,000 people, primarily in southern Moldova and Ukraine.

This is the first time that these two books have been translated into Gagauz. Prior to this, the only portions of the Old Testament translated into Gagauz were Fr. Mikhail Chakir’s translations of the Sacred History of the Old Testament (1907) and Psalms (1936), and IBT’s translation of the Liturgical Six Psalms or Hexapsalmos (2011). IBT also translated the full New Testament (2006) and Children’s Bible (2011) into Gagauz.

IBT has published the book of Proverbs, one of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament, in Kabardian, a language belonging to the West Caucasian language family. According to the census of 2010, there are more than 500,000 Kabardians in the Russian Federation, primarily in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of southern Russia. Proverbs is the third book of the OT published by IBT in Kabardian, following the Ruth/Jonah publication of 2009. The Kabardian New Testament was published by IBT in 1993. These books can be read online or downloaded from IBT’s website. Work on the OT is ongoing, with the book of Daniel next in line for printing.

The Kumyk people, numbering about 430,000 speakers, are the third largest ethnic group and largest Turkic-language people in Dagestan,  a region in the Caucasus area of south Russia where more than 30 different languages are spoken. 

IBT first published the New Testament in the Kumyk language in 2007.  This was followed in 2009 by the translation of the first Old Testament books – Genesis and Proverbs – in 2016 by the illustrated edition of Parables from the Gospel of Luke and now by the Book of Psalms.

From 14 to 17 February 2017 IBT held in its office a workshop for 18 participants from 10 translation projects (Abaza, Avar, Altai, Balkar, Chukchi, Dargi, Rutul, Siberian Tatar, Tsakhur, and for the first time Russian Sign language).

IBT has published an illustrated edition of “Parables from the Gospel of Luke” in the Dargi language.

The Dargi people live primarily in the Republic of Dagestan (Caucasus region of southern Russia). With a population of about 590,000, they comprise about 16% of the total population of Dagestan and are the second largest ethnic group there. Most live in the mountainous and foothill areas of central Dagestan.