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For the first time, the Bible has been fully translated into over 700 different languages. This means that just over 5.7 billion people (about 80% of the world’s population) can now read the Bible in their mother tongue.
Bible translation has grown in recent decades due to technological advancement, translation agencies working together to help local communities translate the Bible and greater investment from supporters. According to progress.bible, the number of languages in which the Bible has been translated has doubled in the last 30 years, from 351 in 1990 to 700 in 2020.
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic affected the global economy, the Bible translation continued. The translators met on video conferencing platforms such as Zoom. The United Bible Societies (UBS), active in over 240 countries and territories, are the largest publisher and distributor of the Bible in the world. In fact, almost 75% of the world’s Bible translations have been completed by the UBS.
However, sustained effort is needed from now on, 1.5 billion people still do not have access to the Bible in their own mother tongue. Over the next two decades, the UBS hope to complete another 1,200 translations, making the Bible accessible to another 600 million people.
If you want to find out about the Bible translation into sign language, check out our article on this topic: The Bible has been translated into sign language.
[Photo from Unsplash]
