Chichewa Scriptures

Chichewa or Chewa is the most widely known language of Malawi, being chiefly spoken in the central and southern regions of the country. It is also one of the seven official African languages of Zambia. The Society has been working together with the Free Grace Evangelistic Association (FGEA) for the past four years to produce a new edition of the Chichewa New Testament with primary reference to the Authorised (King James) Version.

In God’s goodness the final draft text of the New Testament was submitted to the Society for checking at the beginning of 2019. These checks took longer than anticipated but we are thankful that in June 2019, following the recommendation of the Editorial Department, the General Committee approved it for publication.

We look forward to the publication of the Chichewa New Testament, which is much anticipated in Malawi. Furthermore, in 2018 TBS and FGEA agreed to extend the project to the Old Testament, and work commenced on Psalms and Proverbs whilst the final checks were being carried out on the New Testament.

We take the opportunity to record this milestone and to acknowledge the Lord’s help as the prophet Samuel did so many years ago: ‘Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us’ (1 Samuel 7.12).