The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) has published the first-ever translation of the book of the prophet Daniel in the Avar language. The book of Daniel is one of the most widely read books of the Old Testament. It includes the well-known stories of Daniel in the lions’ den, the three young men in the fiery furnace, and the divine handwriting on the wall. It also contains many prophecies about the future.

The Avar language belongs to the Nakh-Dagestanian language family, with 956,800 speakers according to the 2021 census of the Russian Federation. It is also used as a language of interethnic communication by the Andic and Tsezic language groups. Avars live mainly in the Republic of Dagestan, where they constitute about 30% of the total population...

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).

IBT has published another translation of Scripture portions in the Avar language, spoken as a mother tongue by over 700,000 people primarily in Dagestan. The new publication contains the books of Ruth, Esther and Jonah from the Old Testament. The Avar New Testament was published in 2008, and previously published OT portions include the book of Proverbs (2005, 2007) and Genesis (2011).

The present translation was prepared by a new translation team consisting  of an independent translator (working directly from the Hebrew original), a philological editor, a field tester, and a translation consultant. Further work is in progress on the historical books of the OT.

In January 2015 two translation team members from IBT's Avar and Ingush projects traveled to the Holy Land for a 10-day study tour focusing on the historical, geographical and cultural contexts in which the Bible was written. This tour was arranged by the Home for Bible Translators, an organization that for the past two decades has been providing high quality educational programs for Bible translators from around the world to increase their level of expertise in translating the Holy Scriptures...