IBT has published a new book in the Abaza language called  Solomon's Wisdom. The Abaza are a people of the Northwestern Caucasus who live primarily in the Karachay-Cherkess  and Stavropol areas of southern Russia. The Abaza language belongs to Abkhaz-Adyghe group of Caucasian languages. It is one of the five official languages of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. According to the 2010 census, the number of Abaza speakers in Russia is about 38,000.

The new edition is a collection of extracts from two Biblical books – 1 Kings and the book of Proverbs. The epigraph to the collection is the quote, "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death" (Proverbs 13:14). It introduces the reader to the central theme of the collection: wisdom. Wisdom belongs to God; it is the moral law of the universe. It is woven into the foundation of things and everything in the world is subject to its laws. Whenever people do good deeds and make good decisions, they live in harmony with wisdom.

The first part of this book includes passages from 1 Kings that tell the story of King Solomon’s pursuit of wisdom and how God granted his request. The second part contains wise sayings from the book of Proverbs on many topics: proper behavior in the family, the education of children, the use of money, work, honor, virtue, and relationships between people.

 IBT previously published similar collections in the Tsakhur and Rutul languages (2019). The Abaza translation team decided to add excerpts from Proverbs on work and “The Hymn to the Virtuous Wife” (Proverbs 31:10-31).

The book is illustrated with black and white drawings by M. Levashova.

You can read the PDF version of the book in the electronic publications section of the IBT website.