the 1,000th Bible version is....

How many of you read the Bible from an app these days?  In our home, this is now John's most used Bible.

This week, YouVersion announced that the 1000th Bible version available on their app was provided by Wycliffe Bible Translators in partnership with our colleagues in Cameroon.

Yes... Bibles still get published on paper.  But with our goal of providing access to God's word to people in their heart language, it is so important to think about distribution.  When Bible translations are completed, they now get published in multiple formats depending on the audience: web, digital, audio, video and yes, books too.

The 1000th Bible version is in the Hdi language, spoken mostly in Cameroon and into Nigeria... if you want to see it (or try to read it) for yourself... click this LINK.

One of my favorite stories coming out of this translation project are the various words used for love in the Hdi language.  The word they now use to describe God's love, was almost a forgotten word... I will copy here from the YouVersionBlog:

The Hdi people deeply value humility, hospitality, and love. But the Hdi who assisted in the translation were surprised to discover a new way to apply a word that was known but rarely used. Hdi had a word for love, dvi, that means you once felt love for someone, but that love had faded over time. Hdi also had another, more common word for love, dva, that means you love someone because they do things for you. But when the Hdi reexamined a word seldom used in their language, dvu, which means to love someone unconditionally, no matter who they are or what they do, they discovered a whole new way they could apply it to their lives: recognizing it as the way that God loves them. Now the Hdi are convinced that dvu has the power to transform their entire culture.

What version of the Bible is speaking your language these days?