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the-gospel-of-mark-in-the-siberian-tatar-language

The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) has recently released a new edition: a translation of the Gospel of Mark into the Siberian Tatar language. Prior to this, IBT published three Old Testament books in Siberian Tatar: Jonah in 2019, and Ruth and Esther in 2022. Additionally, portions of the New Testament were made available through selected parables from the Gospel of Luke, which were included in the 2022 publication of “Gospel Parables”. The Gospel of Mark is the first full New Testament book to be translated into Siberian Tatar . As the shortest and earliest of the four canonical Gospels, it is characterized by a smaller number of parables than the others, as well as by the brevity and dynamism of the narrative...

pentateuch-in-avar

The Institute for Bible Translation has recently published a new edition in the Avar language — Tavrat (the Pentateuch). The translation has been reviewed by scholars and received a stamp of approval from the Tsadasa Institute of Language, Literature and Art of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This foundational biblical text, the initial part of the Old Testament, consists of five books traditionally attributed to Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They contain the key events of biblical history, including the creation of the world, the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, and the laws of sacrifice and priestly service...

seminar-on-translation-of-key-biblical-terms

A seminar for translators on key biblical terms was held in Baku, Azerbaijan on February 17-20, 2025. Translation team members from 22 oral and written Bible translation projects participated. Most of the projects represented at the seminar are translating Scripture into Caucasian languages, while one of the projects is focusing on the Evenki language of Siberia. Key terms are words that bear a heavy load in conveying the unique cultural and theological meaning of the biblical text...

news-09012025

The Institute for Bible Translation is pleased to announce the publication of a new book, Taurat (the Pentateuch) in the Balkar language. The Balkars are a Turkic people, the indigenous population of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic in the Russian Federation. Closely related to the Karachays living in the neighbouring Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the Balkars speak the Karachay-Balkar language, which belongs to the Turkic language group. According to the 2021 census, the Karachay-Balkar language is spoken by 274,038 people in the Russian Federation.

news-30122024

In late 2024 IBT published the second edition of "Stories about Jesus Christ" by Ivan Shtygashev (1861-1915) in the Shor language. The Shors are a Turkic people living in the south of the Kemerovo region of the Russian Federation. Mountain Shoria, where most Shor speakers live, borders on Khakassia and the Altai Mountains. The administrative centre of Shoria is the town of Tashtagol...

news-23122024

The Institute for Bible Translation has published a series of books in four dialects of the Romani language. The new editions contain translations of selected books from the Old and New Testament: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah and the Gospel of John. The Romani language belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of Indo-European languages, i.e., it is related to the languages of India and Pakistan. Four dialects of Romani that are widespread in Russia were chosen for the translation of the Holy Scriptures: Vlax, Lovari, Crimean and Servi...

news-18122024

Forty people, representatives of eleven small ethnic groups of Russia, gathered in Moscow on 17-18 December for the IBT seminar dedicated to Scripture Engagement. The main message and slogan of the event was: "The Bible translated into a new language should not remain on the shelf". Participants deepened their understanding of the basic principles of organising the work of Scripture Engagement through the inspiring and lively presentation of the keynote speaker.

news-14102024

The Institute for Bible Translation has recently published the book of Psalms in the Lezgi language.

The Psalms are ancient Hebrew hymns that express the various emotional experiences of believers, including joy, sorrow, and hope. The Psalter has long been regarded as a source of inspiration for prayer by people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and has exerted a significant influence on poets and writers throughout the ages.
The present edition has been printed in the Lezgi language, which is spoken by one of the indigenous ethnic groups of the North Caucasus. This language is part of the Nakh-Dagestani language group and is predominantly spoken in southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan...

news-23092024

The Institute for Bible Translation has recently published the book of Ecclesiastes in the Gagauz language. Gagauz belongs to the Oghuz subgroup of Turkic languages and is spoken by about 180,000 people living mainly in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia within the Republic of Moldova, where it is one of the official languages along with Moldovan and Russian.

This is the first-ever translation of Ecclesiastes into Gagauz. The translation team included translator Petri Çebotari (Gagauz writer, scholar and compiler of the Gagauz-Russian-Romanian dictionary) and philological editor Dr. Ivanna Bankova. The project also involved biblical scholars who carefully checked the translation against the original Hebrew text and testers who ensured that it was understood by different groups of readers...

Correspondence

  •   Institute for Bible Translation
    PO Box 360
    101000 Moscow, Russia
  •   +7 (495) 956-6446
  •   +7 (495) 956-6439
  •   ibt_inform@ibt.org.ru