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).

One of the most interesting holidays celebrated by the indigenous peoples of northern Russia is Reindeer Herder's Day. It is rooted in antiquity and is timed to coincide with the Spring Equinox, when the Arctic wakes up from the long polar night. This is a real festival of culture for residents of the Yamal Peninsula: the Nenets, Khanty, Mansi, Komi, and Selkup peoples. The festival usually begins in a certain place at the end of February and is celebrated in all major cities of the region, passed on as in a relay-race from one place to another until the end of April.

Speakers of the Nenets language are already familiar with the Institute for Bible Translation's prior publications, such as Stories About Jesus (2003, 2011), the Gospel of Luke (2004), the Gospel of Mark (2010), the Gospel of John (2014), and the Gospel of Matthew (2018). The newest addition to this list is IBT’s illustrated publication of Gospel Parables.
Despite the coronavirus quarantine, the Nenets do not have to wait for the printing houses to resume their work and for this new book to be delivered to their cities.  Why? Because Gospel Parables is being made available online from the very beginning. It can already be downloaded as a PDF file from IBT's electronic publications page. In the near future the audio recording of the book will also be made available...

The Institute for Bible Translation has published a translation of the Gospel of Matthew in the Nenets language. Earlier published portions in the same language include Selected Passages from the Gospel of Luke (1995), Stories about Jesus (2003); the Gospel of Luke (2004); the Gospel of Mark (2010); the Gospel of John (2014).
The project to translate the Bible into Nenets began in the 1990s far away from the customary dwelling place of the Nenets. The first translation of the Gospel of Luke was completed by the linguist who lived most of his life in St. Petersburg. In 2001 the theological checker who learnt the language settled in Salekhard among the Nenets and built a new translation team. As a result, the new translation of the Gospel of Luke and then of the Gospels of Mark, John and Matthew was done by the Nenets living in their own traditional and cultural environment on the land of their ancestors...

At the end of 2014, IBT published the Nenets translation of the Gospel of John. The Nenets are an indigenous people of the far north of Russia on the Arctic Ocean who number about 45,000 and speak a Samoyedic language. John's Gospel was originally intended to be published as part of the upcoming Nenets edition of the Four Gospels. However, at the Festival of Northern Peoples in March 2014, our translators received many requests for its earlier publication , and local believers began collecting funds to publish it as a separate edition...