Ethiopians now have a translation of the Bible in their own language.
On March 10 the International Bible Society (IBS) released the New Amharic Standard Version Bible at the reception attended by over 1,000 church leaders, missions executives, business leaders and government officials. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia.
Work on the Amharic translation began in 1983, but the project was given a boost in 1991 when the communist government of Ethiopia fell and the culture became more open to Christianity. Since then “the number of evangelical Christians has grown tremendously. So has the need for accurate, contemporary Bibles,” said Solomon Kebede, IBS national director.
Betta Mengistu, African executive director for IBS, said, “Our country has been familiar with the Scripture for hundreds of years.
Indeed, the Bible text itself mentions this region some 66 times. But to have it in modern, understandable language is something altogether different.” Almost 60 percent of Ethiopia’s 65 million people are Christians. (EP)
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