IBT is continuing to publish online editions of our new translations even as we wait for printing-houses to open up once the covid-19 quarantine ends. The latest of these editions is the Balkar version of the Old Testament books of Ruth, Esther and Daniel.

The Turkic-language Balkars constitute about 10% of the population of Kabardino-Balkaria in the North Caucasus area of the Russian Federation. Together with the closely related Karachay people, there are about 300,000 speakers of this language in Russia.

IBT published the New Testament in Balkar in the 1990s. Two decades later, in 2016, we renewed our active participation in the Old Testament translation project. The newly reconstituted translation team includes a mother-tongue translator who works directly from the Hebrew original. Having completed Ruth, Esther and Daniel, the Balkar translation team is continuing their work on the Pentateuch, with plans to publish this edition by the end of 2021. The team has also started work on several of the Minor Prophets, and will hopefully take part in the seminar on Ezekiel this fall.