Pastors read the New Testament in Lugwere, a language of Uganda In addition, there are a huge number of related products including films, audio, children’s versions, picture books, Bible studies and much more.
The goal of all these resources is that people will know how (and why) to find Scripture in their own language – and in the language of anyone with whom they want to share the good news of Jesus – so that they can grow in relationship with him. The challenge is where to find them.
While 1 in 5 people worldwide don’t have the whole Bible available in their language, there are also many people in your community and around the world who simply don’t know that the Bible is freely available on their phone.
Many great websites already exist, providing either the products themselves or indexes linking to them.
‘I can understand French with my ear and Swahili with my mind, but my own language I understand with my heart.’
a pastor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
New Testaments from Cameroon (and one from Nigeria) completed by, or in cooperation with, Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy Formerly, if you wanted Bibles in different languages you’d need to contact your local Bible society or specialist publisher or supplier. These are still good options, and sales from the Bible societies support ongoing work. Bibles can also often be found on Amazon.co.uk, bookdepository.com and other online stores.
Recently ‘print on demand’ technologies have made it possible to make many more print Bibles available this way. There may be distributors in your country or you may be able to order from outside.
More and more Scripture is available online and in digital form as apps. Even if you particularly want a print copy, the digital versions may still be a useful place to start as they nearly always include details of the publisher and author or copyright holder, which will enable you to search for print copies available near you.
(Even free Bibles are covered by copyright, as this ensures that the people distributing the content do so with appropriate permission.)
Other sources of printed Scriptures can often be found using Find.Bible or ScriptureEarth.org.
‘Reading the Scripture in another language is like eating a banana with the skin on. Now the Scripture in my language is satisfying... like a sweet banana. I can't get enough of it.’
a woman from Asia
Bible.com has over 2,600 versions in 1,800 languages, each accessible online or via the Bible app. Many versions can be downloaded from the app for offline use. This site and app also has over 60 interface languages.
Bible.is provides Scriptures in text, audio and video formats on its platform. Audio is available in about 1,600 languages, but there are also a number of text-only versions. In addition, the JESUS Film is available in 1,900 languages and dialects.
Most languages where Scripture is available digitally are available on both of these sites, but currently there are still a few available on one and not the other.
ScriptureEarth.org is both a directory and a source of online Scriptures. In addition to pointing to Scriptures on Bible.com and Bible.is it also makes a large number of minority language Scriptures available in a range of formats including pdf and modules for use in some Bible study software and links to individual apps created using software produced by SIL (Wycliffe’s primary partner organisation). These have the advantage of being able to be copied more easily from phone to phone in areas where access to the internet is difficult.
Both ScriptureEarth and Find.Bible provide the opportunity to search by country and include alternative names for many languages.
New-Neighbour-Bible.org is specifically designed to help churches become aware of resources and languages spoken by refugees and other ‘new neighbours’. It has fewer languages than the bigger directories but gives more information about those languages and links to a wider range of resources and is currently available in English, French, German and Italian.
‘Reading the Bible in English feels like swimming on the surface of the sea, but not knowing what’s below. With God’s word in my own language, it’s like wearing goggles – I can dive down deep and see everything clearly.’
from Papua New Guinea
