“The people of the Netherlands and Flanders saw how the introduction of a Bible translation is a major news item when the NBV21 translation was presented”, says General Secretary Rieuwerd Buitenwerf of the Bible Society of the Netherlands and Flanders. “People respond with surprise and gladness to the new insights into the Scriptures thanks to such a translation. We share that experience with millions of people around the world who were able to read or hear the Bible in their own language for the first time or who received a new translation in 2021.”
New Translations
In three of the 48 aforementioned languages, a complete Bible is available for the first time: in Khualsim (a language Myanmar), Asturian (in Spain) and Santali (in Bangladesh). In eight other language, a New Testament was completed for the first time: five African and three Asian languages, among them the Songo language in Angola (a project supported by the BSNF). In addition, in 37 other languages, sections of the Bible were first available, three of them with the support of the BSNF.
All in all, in the past year the UBS completed 43 translation projects: new and replacement translations – like the NBV21 – in languages spoken by 783 million people.
The whole Bible is now available in 719 languages, for 5.8 billion people. The New Testament is available in 1,593 languages, and portions of the Bible in 1,212 languages. In over 3,800 of the approximately 7,400 languages in the world no parts of Scripture have been translated.
Translation Support BSNF
Out of the approximately 312 current UBS translation projects, the BSNF supported 38 in the past year. Examples of these are projects on the Philippines, and Aruba, in Laos, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia and Mexico. Pastor Manuel Carac from Mexico explains the relevance of such a project, ‘When I study the Bible for my sermons, it is complicated. There are many words in my Spanish Bible that I don’t understand very well. I asked God for help in understanding his Word. That prayer has been answered: a Bible translation is being made in my language!”