IBT Russia has recently published a new edition of OT Scripture portions in the Kabardian language, spoken by over half a million people in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation. This edition contains three books of the Bible. Proverbs was first published in Kabardian in 2017 and has proved to be quite popular with readers. Ecclesiastes was published in 2020 in a bilingual edition together with a translation of this book into the closely related Adyghe language. Esther has now been published in Kabardian for the first time. The edition also includes a glossary, a subject index, and a map of Biblical places found in the book of Esther. An audio recording of these books on CD comes with the printed edition, and can also be found in the Kabardian Scripture app “ФIыцIагъэ ЛъапIэ” in Google Play and AppStore.

 IBT is happy to announce the release of a bilingual edition of Ecclesiastes in Adyghe and Kabardian, closely-related languages of the North Caucasus in the Russian Federation.

First, a little history. The official classification of Adyghe and Kabardian as separate languages appeared in 1922, when the Adyghe (Cherkess) and Karachay-Cherkess autonomous regions were formed inside the USSR. Until that time, the two languages were considered to be dialects of a single Circassian language. Over the past century, Adyghe and Kabardian have each developed independently (especially in their written forms), but some speakers of Adyghe and Kabardian still feel that they belong to the same language community. The Ecclesiastes publication was born out of a desire to preserve and develop the community between these two peoples.

IBT has published a Kabardian-language version of the illustrated Gospel Parables.  This is the tenth language to get this book. The series was begun in 2007 with the Agul edition, followed in 2015-2018 by Bezhta, Dargi, Dungan, Kumyk, Nogai, Rutul, Tatar and Tsakhur.

Following quickly on the heels of last year’s presentation of the Kabardian translation of Proverbs in Nalchik, IBT has published yet another Scripture portion in Kabardian, the books of Daniel and Ruth in a single edition.

The Kabardian language, also known as Circassian or Cherkess, is spoken by approximately 516,000 speakers in the Russian Federation. It is one of the official languages of the Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Cherkessia areas of southern Russia. Previous Kabardian Scripture editions include the New Testament, a revised version of Luke, Ruth, Jonah, and Proverbs. The current publication is a reprint edition of Ruth together with the first-ever translation of Daniel.

IBT has published the book of Proverbs, one of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament, in Kabardian, a language belonging to the West Caucasian language family. According to the census of 2010, there are more than 500,000 Kabardians in the Russian Federation, primarily in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of southern Russia. Proverbs is the third book of the OT published by IBT in Kabardian, following the Ruth/Jonah publication of 2009. The Kabardian New Testament was published by IBT in 1993. These books can be read online or downloaded from IBT’s website. Work on the OT is ongoing, with the book of Daniel next in line for printing.