A new Scripture portion in the Khakas language - the book of the prophet Jonah - has arrived in Abakan, the capital city of Khakassia in south Siberia.

According to the 2010 census, the Khakas language is spoken by 42,604 people. It belongs to the south Siberian group  of the Turkic languages and is spoken mainly in the Republic of Khakassia and partially in Krasnoyarsk Region and Tuva.

After the release of the New Testament in Khakas in 2009 and its reprint with a parallel Russian translation in 2011, the Khakas project had a rather long break while preparing for the next stage - the translation of the Old Testament. Currently, Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, and the books of Habakkuk and Malachi are in the works.

The Institute for Bible Translation has published the first Old Testament book in the Nenets language. The Nenets are a Samoyedic people that live in the far north of Russia. According to the 2010 census, the Nenets language is spoken by almost 22,000 people.

The Nenets people are already familiar with several New Testament books from IBT’s previously published translations : Luke's Gospel (1995, 2004); Stories about Jesus (2003, 2011 with an audio CD); Mark's Gospel (2010); John's Gospel with an audio CD (2014); Matthew's Gospel (2018), and a collection of illustrated Gospel  Parables (2020).

The Gospel of Mark has been fully translated into Russian Sign Language (RSL). The translation was produced by the Institute for Bible Translation in partnership with the "Desnitsa" Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Videos of all 16 chapters of Mark are now available for viewing on IBT's YouTube channel. In order to explain biblical concepts and difficult passages to Deaf audiences, supplementary materials consisting of 31 "footnotes" (commentary video entries) and 98 glossary video entries were also produced.

The Institute of Bible Translation continues to publish Scripture portions from the Old Testament in the Avar language. The Avars are the largest ethnic group in Dagestan, and also live in eastern Georgia and northern Azerbaijan. In Russia there are more than 900,000 Avars, acc. to the 2010 census. Most speak the Avar language, which belongs to the Nakh-Dagestanian group of the North Caucasus language family, as their mother-tongue.

The translation of the four books of Kingdoms (or 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings in the English tradition) was carried out by an IBT team that included experts in the Avar language as well as biblical scholars who checked the accuracy of the translation against the Hebrew original. The publication underwent scholarly review and was published with the stamp of approval of the Tsadasa Institute of Language, Literature and Art in Dagestan. Other Scripture portions translated into Avar by IBT include the Proverbs of Solomon (2005, 2007); the New Testament (2008); Genesis (2011); and Ruth, Esther and Jonah (2017).

The Institute of Bible Translation has published a new Scripture edition in the Ingush language - the first-ever translation of the Gospel of John. This follows IBT’s Ingush-language publications of Luke's Gospel (2005, 2007); the books of Ruth, Esther, and Jonah (2015); and Genesis and Proverbs (2018).

The Ingush are a Vainakh ethnic group living in the North Caucasus, primarily in the Republic of Ingushetia. The total number of Ingush in Russia is about 450,000, acc. to the 2010 census. The Gospels are known to Muslims as the Injil, an Arabic word derived from the Greek “Euangelion” (Gospel), which means "glad tidings"...