Kalenjin New Testament Published

The Kalenjin people mainly live in Kenya, a country in East Africa. The Kalenjin tribes, numbering over six million, are one of the five largest ethnic groups in Kenya with a small number of them also residing in Uganda and Tanzania.

The tribes that make up the Kalenjin group speak their own languages or dialects, which vary within the Kalenjin group and differ from other languages spoken in Kenya. One language shares the tribal name: Kalenjin. While the languages within the Kalenjin group are not mutually intelligible, some are linguistically closely related. Certain dialects, such as the Pokot, are significantly different, and cannot be understood across the other tribes that make up the wider Kalenjin tribe, prompting a separate project by TBS for Pokot speakers.

Since 2014 TBS has been working with a team in Kenya to prepare a faithful new translation of the Kalenjin Scriptures directly from the Biblical languages, with secondary reference to the Authorised (King James) Version and extant Kalenjin Bibles. In the Lord’s goodness, the New Testament has been printed and copies of it have just arrived at our UK Headquarters. Work is also progressing on the Old Testament translation, and we hope that the whole Bible will be ready for typesetting by the end of 2025.

‘Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light’ (Ephesians 5.14).

How to pray for this project:

• For the shipment of Kalenjin New Testaments to safely reach and enter Kenya, and to be widely distributed.
• For the translators to receive wisdom and help as they finalise their Old Testament translation work.