United Bible SocietiesGlobal Scripture Access Report

2015 Annual Progress

In 2015 Bible Societies assisted in the completion of translations in 50 languages spoken by nearly 160 million people. 2015 was ‘a first’ for no fewer than 28languages, spoken by nearly 33 million people. 11 communities now have their very first full Bible, 6 have a New Testament and 11communities have their first, or additional,portions of Scripture.

Languages are constantly developing so Bible Societies are also committed to revisingexisting translations and providing newtranslations, when requested, to help as many people as possible engage with the message of the Bible today. In 2015 this resulted in a further 20 new translations and revisions plus2 study editions with the potential to reach over 127 million people.

11 Full Bibles6 New Testaments11 Portions

28First translations

33million speakers

20 New/Revisions

2015 – Significant Progress

2015 Firsts:

7Full Bibles

3New Testaments

10Portions

For full details of the languages published in 2015 see the Appendix.

The laws of the Lord are right, and those who obey them are happy.The commands of the Lord are just and give understanding to the mind.

Psalm 19:8 GNT

285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide, of whom 40 million are blind. A Braille Bible usually consists of more than 40 bulky volumes making the transcription and production of a complete Bible in Braille a significant undertaking. Last year over 150,000 visually impaired people in Sri Lanka were given the potential to read the Bible for themselves with the completion of the Sinhala Braille Bible. This is the 44th language to receive a full Bible in Braille. In Mexico the first Braille portion in the Purepecha language was produced. Additional Braille portions were also added in Spanish and Armenian as well as a new Dutch Braille Bible.

Reaching VisuallyImpaired People

For full details of the languages published in 2015 see the Appendix.

Sign Languages is the first or ‘heart’ language for 70 million deaf people worldwide and there are over 400 unique Sign Languages. The New Testament is onlyavailable in American Sign Language and this is the largest portion of Scripture currently available in Sign Language.

The UBS, in close partnership with other internationalministries, is seeking to meet this Scripture need for what is now recognised as a major unreached people group.Bible Societies are currently partners in 14 ongoingprojects and another 9 are just beginning or in theplanning stage.

In 2015 the Ceylon Bible Society published Sign Language selections from Acts. Hungary and Lithuania produced the first ever drafts of Mark’s gospel. Brazil produced 15 new Bible stories in Sign Language and the Mexico team completed Luke and Acts. The ViBi team in Japan has completed Exodus, Titus and Ephesians and is aiming to complete the whole Bible by 2033.

Sign Language Scriptures for the Deaf Community

Alexander M. Schweitzer, United Bible Societies Head of Global BibleTranslation, commented: “How encouraging it is to look back at 2015 to see that Bible Societies have been involved in completing translations in no fewer than 50 languages spoken by nearly 160 million people. We also take special joy to see the progress being made with new Scriptures in Braille and Sign Language. This progress inspires us to aim even higher so that the lives of many more individuals and communities are enriched by the transforming power of God’s Word.”

For full details of the languages published in 2015 see the Appendix.

100 Bibles in 1000 Days In 2013 United Bible Societies identified 100 fullBibles that could be translated by the end of 2015. We are pleased to report that 90 have completedthe translation stage with 53 published andencouraging their communities, and 37 in pre-production or printing.

Please pray for all those working on the remaining10 translations that they will be able to complete their work as soon as possible. Please also pray for two confidential projects which have been completed but need permission from the authorities before they can be published.

Scripture Access Today1

There are currently 6,887 languages in the world

spoken by over 7.3 billion people.

563 languages (spoken by nearly 5.1 billionpeople) now have a full Bible and a further 1,334 languages (spoken by 658 million people) have a New Testament. This leaves 281 million people with only some portions of the Bible and a further 497 million people with no Scripture translated in theirlanguage at all.

United Bible Societies is committed to working towards the day when everyone can access the full Bible – so much work still remains to be done. Furthermore, languages are constantly changing; therefore we arecommitted to ensuring that existing translations are regularly revised and new translations undertaken to meet the needs of the communities that use them. Bible Societies is currently working on over 400 translation projects around the world.

1 Figures as at 31.12.2015. We thank Bible Societies, Wycliffe Global Alliance and other translation agen-cies for their help in compiling these statistics. The figures for the number of language speakers is based on the best available data which currently totals 6.5 billion, less than the actual world population.

563Bibles

658 millionNew Testaments

1334New Testaments

281 millionPortions

497 millionNo Scriptures

Number of Speakers1

Languages1

1038Portions

3952No Scriptures

5.1 billionBibles

7.3 billion6,887

Scripture Access & Engagement The increasing use of the internet offers people greater choicein how and where they connect with the Bible.

The Digital Bible Library® (DBL) is central to our strategy to make the Bible as widely and easily accessible as possible. By the end of 2015, the DBL contained no fewer than 1,201 Bibles, Testaments and por-tions in 957 languages. These languages are spoken by over 4.6 bil-lion people.

The DBL is owned and maintained by United Bible Societies in partnership with other Bible agencies and with the support of the Every Tribe Every Nation alliance. It makes the Bible accessible by providing Scripture texts to the public through partners such asBibleSearch and YouVersion. “Today God speaks our language,”

said one joyful recipient of a Kim Bible.(A language spoken in southern Chad)

Country/Territory Language Scope Type Speakers

Chad Kim Bible First1 15,400

Ethiopia Sidama Bible First1 2,980,000

Indonesia Mentawai Bible First1 58,000

Mali Bomu Bible First1 158,000

Myanmar Ngawn Chin Bible First1 20,000

Myanmar Khumi Chin Bible First1 7,700

Seychelles Kreol Seselwa Bible First1 74,600

Togo/Ghana Bassar / Bassam / Ntcham

Bible First1 217,000

Uganda Lusoga Bible Bible First1 2,060,000

Vietnam Rade Bible First1 177,000

United States Yupik Bible First 10,000

China White Yi (Bai Yi) New Testament First 67,000

Indonesia Sahu New Testament First 7,500

Indonesia Behoa New Testament First 10,000

Morocco Moroccan Arabic New Testament First3 23,060,100

Nepal Chamling New Testament First 76,800

Philippines Majukayong / Kalinga New Testament First 1,500

Argentina Toba del Oeste Portions - Ruth, Esther, Jonah

First2 5,000

Botswana Shekgalagadi Portion - Luke First 40,100

Burkina Faso Lyele Portion - Leviticus First2 213,000

India Sajolang (Miji) Portion - Gospels First 18,000

Morocco Moroccan Arabic Portion - Genesis First2 23,060,100

Mozambique Elomwe Portions - Isaiah & Prov-erbs

First2 1,269,527

Philippines Tinggian Portion - Mark First2 9,000

Philippines Eastern Waray (dia-lect)

Portion - Mark First 429,000

Philippines Northern Waray (dialect)

Portion - Mark First 589,000

Tanzania Kiha Portion - Genesis First2 990,000

Togo Ikposso Portion - Matthew First 162,500

Russia Karelian Olonets Portion - Isaiah First2 31,000

In 2015 United Bible Societies assistedin the completion of Scriptures in 50 languages

spoken by nearly 160 million people.Appendix

Country/Territory Language Scope Type Speakers

Ethiopia Tigrigna Bible New1 4,320,000

Nigeria Hausa CommonLanguage Bible

Bible New1 41,929,000

United Kingdom Welsh Bible New 562,000

Mozambique Changana (Xitsonga) New Testament New 1,710,000

Mozambique CiSena New Testament New 1,807,319

Greece Greek Portion - Psalms New 13,000,000

Guatemala Achi de Cubulco Portion - John New 62,192

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz Portions - Ruth, Jonah, Esther

New 4,568,480

Liberia Mann Portions - Ruth, Jonah New 315,000

Liberia Dan Portions - Ruth, Jonah, Mark

New 320,000

Poland Polish Portions - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deu-teronomy

New 38,500,000

Slovenia Slovenian Portion - Mark New 2,074,170

Sweden Swedish Portion - Galatians New 9,197,090

Chad Ngambay Bible Revision1 1,377,000

India Biate Revision Bible Revision1 30,000

India KomRem Revision Bible Revision1 15,000

Zambia Bemba Bible Revision1 4,110,000

French Polynesia Marquesan New Testament & Psalms Revision 25,000

Philippines Standard Waray (Western)

Portion - Mark Revision 2,300,000

Papua New Guinea

Tok Pisin Portions - Ruth, Jonah, Philippians

Revision 120,000

Study Editions

China West Lisu Study Bible Study Edition 600,000

Argentina Toba Qom Study New Testament Study Edition 70,000

Braille Editions

Sri Lanka Sinhala Bible First 150,000

Mexico Purepecha Portion - Luke First

Armenia Armenian (Etchmiadzin) Portion - Sirach First2

Costa Rica Spanish (Dios Habla Hoy) Portion - Acts First2

Netherlands Dutch (Plain Dutch) Bible New 21,944,690

1 Part of the 100 Bibles in 1000 Days Campaign2 First translations of these portions – other books of the Bible have been translated in these languages3 A North African Arabic New Testament was first published in 1932. This is the first printed edition of a specific Moroccan Arabic New Testament. It has been available in audio and electric format since 2012.

The fellowship is incorporated as United Bible Societies, a corporation registeredin the state of Delaware, USA, in 1946. The affairs of the fellowship are administered on its behalf

by the United Bible Societies Association (UBSA) from its registered office at UBS UK Hub, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon, SN5 7PJ, England. UBSA is a company limited by guarantee, registered in

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