The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) continues to publish the books of the Old Testament in the Balkar language. The Balkars are a Turkic-speaking people that lives primarily in the central part of the North Caucasus, with a population of about 113,000 people, according to the 2010 census.

The book of the prophet Jonah is the second Old Testament edition in the Balkar language published by IBT.  In 2020, IBT published a Balkar edition of Ruth, Esther and Daniel. Jonah was printed as a large hardcover edition with colorful illustrations by I. Pavlishina that had previously been used in the publications of Jonah in various other languages ​​and were well accepted by readers of different ethnicities.

The Balkar translation in this edition is accompanied by two parallel texts – Russian and English. The presence of different translations will hopefully contribute to a wider use of the book in a multilingual environment, help in the study of these languages, and most importantly, emphasize the book's main idea - that the God of the Jewish people is not limited by geographical or ethnic boundaries, but cares for all peoples.

This book, as well as previous editions in the Balkar language, can already be read and downloaded in the electronic publications section of the IBT website.

The Balkar translation team continues to work on preparing the Pentateuch for publication.