YouVersion Bible app team and Bible translation group, illumiNations are partnering to translate the Holy book into more languages.
The aim is to have the Bible translated into 95 per cent of the world languages by 2033 so that more people would have access to the scriptures, Christian Headlines is reporting.
Founder of YouVersion, Bobby Gruenewald, who disclosed this in a media interview recently, said the challenges of translating the Bible into more languages has left many without access to the scripture.
He said, “There are a lot of languages that are spoken in the world that people may not be aware of. So, it’s well over 6,000 languages. But unfortunately, in spite of the fact that we’ve had the Bible in English, you know, for many years, we take it for granted that there are still many people and thousands of languages that actually have access to Scripture at all, no scripture in their heart language.
“They might speak another language, but it’s not their heart language, the language that they spoke when they were young. And so, we’re definitely excited about being a part of an effort to change that and make that reality different going forward.”
Gruenewald said the joint effort of YouVersion Bible app team and illumiNations is speeding up the translation process because of new methodologies and technology.
He expressed hope that most people in the world would access the holy book as a result of the efforts.
“We think it is possible in most of our lifetimes here by 2033, to be able to see God’s word translated into 100 per cent of the languages; to see the New Testament available in 99.96 per cent of the languages available, and the whole Bible, the entire Bible, translated in 95 per cent of the languages, which is just really a goal that seemed possible,” Gruenewald said.
“And most people thought it would be at least another 100 or 200 at the pace that we were going, but there’s been a rapid acceleration, and it’s still a lot of work to come, but there’s definitely hope and a sense of that to be possible by 2033.”
Christian Headlines reports that YouVersion has so far translated the Bible into 2,500 languages and is currently translating over 1,700 languages.
illumiNations said on its website that the Bible still needs to be translated into about 3,732 languages.