Wycliffe Bible Translators recently announced the Bible has been translated into its 700th language. The praiseworthy milestone is a result of Bible translation happening at a more rapid speed than ever. Due to the many translations happening all at once, Wycliffe reported “it is impossible” to know which specific translation marked number 700.
The three possible translations that may have accounted for the number 700 milestone could have been The Huichol (Wixáritari) Bible launched in Mexico, The Ellomwe Bible launched in Malawi, or the YouVersion additions of two Nigerian languages–the Tiv language or the Igede Bible.
According to Wycliffe Bible Translators website, now that the Bible is available in 700 different languages it provides 5.6 billion people around the world access to the entire Old and New Testaments. In addition to the entire Bible being translated into those 700 languages, the New Testament has been translated in another 1,548 languages that reaches an additional 786 million people around the globe.
There are 3.969 languages that currently don’t have the Scriptures in a translation they understand. To put that in perspective, 1 in 5 people who speak 6,665 languages do not have the full Scriptures in their first language, Wycliffe states.
Wycliffe Bible Translators’ Executive Director James Poole said, “This is such exciting news and represents the tremendous work that Bible translators are doing across the world. Every time we hear of the Bible being translated into another language, we know that means that for the first time the people in that language group can fully access the complete picture of God’s story.”
Poole praised the milestone saying, “That is a remarkable figure and continues to grow,” but in the same statement said that it is an injustice that 1.5 billion people don’t have the Bible in their language and that Bible translation teams around the world are working to fix that.
“It’s amazing that there is so much Bible translation going on that we can’t pinpoint the 700th Bible,” Poole stated. “We live in exciting times when the vision that all people will be able to read or hear God’s Word in their language is becoming a reality.”
Recently the entire Bible was translated into sign language by Deaf Missions. It’s a work that took 38 years to complete and will provide 3.5 million people access to God’s Word.
To become involved with what Wycliffe Bible Translators is accomplishing throughout the world, check out their website here.