Every Person To Have Bible Translation By 2025
By George Whitten, Jerusalem Bureau Chief
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (Worthy News) –- The world’s main Bible translation organization has unveiled a plan to ensure that every person will be able to read the best-selling and most-translated book of all-time in its own language by 2025.
In a statement to Worthy News Saturday, January 17, Wycliffe Bible Translators said its initiative, Last Languages, will involve translating the Bible in the last remaining 2,400 languages within 20 years. It said the speed of translating the Bible increased since the 19th century, but “most significantly” in the past 20 years, allowing staff to work in “a full-sprint” to complete the goal set by Wycliffe.
Wycliffe said it has currently some 6,400 workers in the field in 93 countries, but admitted it would need an additional 3,000 staff for its billion-dollar project. Out of the 6,909 language groups in the world today, about one in three do not have a Bible translation program yet, the organization added.
It said some 200 million people in 2,400 languages have “yet to be reached” with a copy of the Bible in their own language. It said it was encouraged that its project, launched in November last year, has already received a $50 million capital injection from an anonymous donor. The organization apparently believes it will be able to raise enough cash to finish the program.