The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) continues its work towards a complete translation of the Bible in the Kabardian language. As part of this project, digital editions of four Old Testament books have been released: Joshua, Judges, Ezra and Nehemiah.

Kabardian belongs to the Circassian language branch and is spoken by more than 515,000 people in Russia, primarily in Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Adyghea, and North Ossetia, as well as in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions.

The new publications are all historical books of the Old Testament. The book of Joshua recounts the Israelites' conquest of the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses' successor. The book of Judges describes the next period of Israelite history, when the people were governed by the so-called “judges” — tribal military commanders and spiritual leaders who came to their people’s aid in times of trouble. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah describe the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple in the 6th-5th century BC. These books contain important parallels with the history and traditions of the Kabardian people, making them especially meaningful for readers.

These publications mark an intermediate stage on the path toward a translation of the full Bible into Kabardian. IBT had previously published  translations of the Kabardian New Testament (1993), Ruth and Jonah (2009), Proverbs (2017), Daniel (2018), Ecclesiastes (2020), Esther (2021), as well as 1-2 Samuel/1-2 Kings and  Stories from the Holy Scriptures (2024).

Digital versions of all these publications are available for free viewing and downloading on IBT’s website.