Shona (Zimbabwe)

Shona is one of three major languages spoken in Zimbabwe, the others being Ndebele and English. Although English is the official language, Shona is the predominant language in Zimbabwe, spoken by nearly 70% of its 16 million inhabitants. The Shona people are historically natives of central and eastern Zimbabwe, an area commonly known as Mashonaland.

In January 2009, in partnership with the Trinitarian Bible Society, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland began to prepare a new translation of the Shona Bible from the Hebrew Masoretic and Greek Received Texts, with reference to the Shona Union Bible. The new translation had to be acceptable to all five of the main Shona dialects. The TBS Shona New Testament was published in 2014 and the reception has been extremely positive. To date over 40,000 copies have been circulated.

The 12,000 copies of the Shona Bible from the first printing in 2022 have almost all been distributed. During the past twelve months we have been pleased to receive positive feedback concerning both the text and the layout of this new translation of God’s Word. We are very grateful to GBS for generously funding the initial printing of the Shona Bible. As funds allow, we look forward to printing further copies to meet the demand in Zimbabwe.