Do you know where to find Bibles in all the languages spoken by people attending your church (live or online), and the people living in your community?
This is an update of a post from 2021 since when several hundred translations of the Bible have been made available online. As of Aug 2024 YouVersion’s Bible app (also available at Bible.com) provided 3,184 versions in 2,100 languages. (up from 1500 in 2021!)
Many versions can be downloaded for offline use and easily switched between using the compare function. The interface is also available in over 60 languages.
The site and app includes reading plans, tools for creating verse images, or sharing notes and variety of other resources. There is also a Bible app for kids in over 60 languages.
faithcomesbyhearing.com also has Audio Scripture recordings available in over 2,100 languages. (also up from about 1500!). Increasingly these are also being made available as videos of at least one of the gospels, and they also have many additional versions in text only. The Bible.is website and app includes these plus the Jesus Film Lumo gospel videos.
Another site worth a mention is stepbible.org which provides scripture in 375+ languages, and an interface in almost 60. It has lots of nifty tools for in depth bible study whether you are prepping a sermon, wanting to check up on what someone else said the Bible says, or perhaps just wanting to explore for yourself what something said in the original Greek or Hebrew, and whether that helps you in knowing and following God better.
An older favourite, biblegateway.com, has about 200 versions of the Bible in over 70 languages (including about 70 English Versions)
Should you be looking for a Bible in another language not already on one of the sites above, scriptureearth.org provides (or links to) Bibles, New Testaments, Portions and other materials (including Jesus Film) from over 3,100 languages and dialects in a wide variety of formats for downloading or using online.
Find.Bible provides a similar service and has some material not on Scripture Earth.
New-neighbour-bible.orgis another site with a growing list of links and resources for European churches reaching out to newcomers in their communities.
With so many versions in so many languages, it often come as a surprise that the complete Bible is available in ‘only’ 754 of the of the world’s 7,000 or so languages.
Fortunately continuing translation and Scripture Engagement work is known to be happening in over 2,400 languages in which something has already been published and another 1,480 where work is starting.
And yet with all of these possibilities there are people who still don’t know where to find Bibles, especially in ‘non-majority’ languages. Wouldn’t it be great if every church linked to online Bibles in all the languages spoken by the people living in their communities? Perhaps you can suggest it to your church along with some other thoughts on how to be a more multilingual church or discuss how and why people read the Bible.
As God’s Word becomes available in languages around the world through Bible translation, Scripture is added to digital Bible resources. You can access these Bibles online or download the apps for Android or iOS. Courtesy: Wycliffe.org, October 2022.
Davar believes that all people should have the opportunity to know the God who made them and that the truths of the Bible are not bound to the reader or ink on paper. Isaiah 55:11 says, “so is my Word that goes from my mouth; it will not return empty…
Church websites are often quite good at telling people about service times, linking to sermons, and even giving information on how to hire rooms in the building. Sadly, in my experience not many are very good at helping people access the Bible. Perhaps they assume that anyone who can find…
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