In church, when you seem people staring at their smart phones, they aren’t necessarily texting, surfing, or playing games. They may well be using their Bible apps, allowing them to read the Scriptures and follow along with the text of a sermon on their mobile devices. They can also switch translations so that they can use the one the pastor is using. The one I use, YouVersion, gives me access to 41 Bible translations in English. But YouVersion also allows you and people around the world to access the Bible in other languages–over a thousand of them. The app, which is free, now offers the Bible in (at last count, a few minutes ago when I checked) 1,030 languages.
You can download the app here or at your phone’s app store. See details about YouVersion’s achievement after the jump, including which languages are most popular and what percentage of the world’s languages this covers. Do any of you have other Bible or devotional apps that you would recommend?
From You Can Now Hold 1,000 Bible Translations in the Palm of Your Hand, Christianity Today:
Today 7 out of 10 of the world’s inhabitants can read the Bible in their own language on a digital device, thanks to partnerships between YouVersion and more than 150 Bible publishers and translation agencies.
The YouVersion Bible App, downloaded more than 150 million times, now offers 1,000 translations of the Bible. And Spanish is far from the second-most used language after English.
YouVersion broke the quadruple-digit threshold after Wycliffe Bible Translators provided access to its Bible translation for about 5,000 Hdi speakers, who predominantly reside in the mountains of Cameroon and in parts of neighboring Nigeria. Other rare languages reached through YouVersion’s app include Huilliche (2,000 speakers in Chile), Samoan (1,140 speakers in Fiji), and Ama (480 speakers in Papua New Guinea).
“It’s unprecedented in history having so many Bible versions in the palm of your hand—something we never imagined was possible even a few years ago,” said YouVersion’s Bobby Gruenewald in a statement. “This milestone wouldn’t be possible if not for the Bible translators and the more than 150 publishers, Bible societies, and organizations that have collaborated with YouVersion.”
Despite now reaching 87 percent of the world’s Christians with internet access (according to YouVersion), the accomplishment still represents less than 20 percent of the world’s 6,901 languages. Of these, 2,192 languages have a Bible translation in progress, and 1,872 languages do not have any translation in progress, according to YouVersion.
After English, the YouVersion language with the second-most installations worldwide is Portuguese, which almost doubles the installations of Korean (the No. 3 language) and almost triples the installations of Spanish (No. 4). Chinese is the No. 5 installed language.
See also 1,000 Bible Versions: See the Bigger Picture | YouVersion.
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