The Institute for Bible Translation has recently published Bible Stories in the Altai language. Earlier publications in this language include the 1910 edition of the Four Gospels (reprinted by IBT in 1975); the Gospel of Mark (1996); Jesus, Friend of Children (1997); the Gospel of Luke and Acts (1999); the Children's Bible (2002); the New Testament (2003); and the New Testament (2nd edition, bilingual, 2017).
Bible Stories is a collection of 58 narrative accounts of the main events as described in the Old and New Testaments, from the Genesis account of the creation of the world to the events of the last day in the book of Revelation. This publication is a short version of the famous blue edition of the Children's Bible that IBT has for so many years been making available in various languages. This new Altai edition is much smaller in size and includes about one fourth of the stories from the 2002 edition of the Children's Bible. All of them were edited in accordance with the most recent Russian version of the book and also the most recent Altai Bible translations. Bible Stories introduces the reader to the Biblical world and its main characters, while the colorful illustrations accompanying each story help arouse an interest in the Holy Scripture.
The Altai language belongs to the south Siberian group of Turkic languages. It is spoken in the Altai Republic and Altai Krai of the Russian Federation. During the 2010 census, 55,720 people designated Altai as their mother tongue. Together with Russian, the Altai language is the official language of the Altai Republic; however, its study in schools is optional. This new edition will hopefully be an important step towards reviving the Altai’s interest in their native language and in the Bible.
In order to help Altai readers access Bible Stories, the Institute has also produced an audio recording of the text, which in the near future will be available for download in the audio section of the IBT website. One can already find the PDF version of the book in the electronic publications section. An Android application with this illustrated book, as well as the audio recording and a parallel Russian text, is also being developed.