The Bible is the most printed, most read book in history. Yet printing is only one step in placing God’s Word into people’s hands. The labor of translation is also strategic.
Here are some highlights of how the good news has spread into other languages since the Reformation:
1530s—William Tyndale’s English translation prepared the way for other English versions of the Bible, including the King James Version (KJV).
1534—Martin Luther finished translating the entire Bible into German.
1629—The book of Matthew was translated into the Southeast Asian language Malay.
1663—John Elliot translated the Bible into the Natick Algonquin language of North America.
1793-1834—William Carey and his associates translated the Scriptures into over 40 Asian languages.
1809 & 1816—The International Bible Society (IBS) and American Bible Society (ABS) were founded in New York City. ABS provided the first pocket Bibles for Civil War soldiers and supplied Bibles to hotels and Pony Express riders.
1823—Robert Morrison translated the entire Bible into Chinese.
1887—John Ross translated the first Korean New Testament.
2006—United Bible Societies distribute 393 million Scriptures in one year.
Today—Much translation work is left to be done. According to Wycliffe Bible Translators, of the nearly 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, more than 2,200 languages lack access to even one verse of Scripture. Only 429 language communities have access to the entire Bible in their native language.
Excerpted from an article at: www.answeringenesis.org
Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators, American Bible Society, International Bible Society, and United Bible Society.
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