The Gospel for Pakistan—Translating Scriptures for Western Punjabi Speakers

Location: Pakistan
Speakers: 95 million
Project Status: Gospel
Christian Population: 2%

There are over 125 million people around the world who speak Punjabi dialects, yet they still are in need of Bible translations that are faithful to the original Biblical languages. With less than 2% of Punjabi speakers worldwide identifying as Christian, there is an urgent need for the Scriptures. Most Punjabi speakers are generally either Sikh or Muslim.

Punjabi is primarily spoken in Pakistan and India. In Pakistan, where there are approximately 95 million speakers, the language and its dialects are often grouped under the term Western Punjabi or Lahnda. In India, where around 30 million people speak the language, it is known as Eastern Punjabi. TBS has projects in both Western and Eastern Punjabi. There are significant Punjabi-speaking communities in Australia, Canada, the UAE, the UK, and the USA.

Punjabi is one of the few Indo-Aryan tonal languages is used and has three different writing systems based on the region. The Gurmukhi script, which is written right-to-left, is mainly used in India (for example, Punjabi would be spelled as ਪੰਜਾਬੀ), whereas the Shahmukhi script which is written left-to-right is used in Pakistan (Punjabi would be written as پنجابی). On more rare occasions it is written in the Latin script.

We rejoice that the Lord has opened the door to begin a translation in Western Punjabi. The Gospel according to John has been translated and is ready to be proofread. Once proofreading is complete it will go through our translation analysis check. Please join us in praying for this project, that it may be used for the salvation of millions of Western Punjabi speakers in Pakistan and across the wider diaspora.

‘O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever’ (Psalm 136.26).

How to pray for this project:

• For the proofreading to be thorough, with all errors identified and corrected, and that the subsequent translation analysis would proceed smoothly.
• For the Gospel to be published quickly in print and online, and that it would be used for the salvation of Western Punjabi speakers.
• For the translators and proofreaders undertaking the project—that they may be granted wisdom, good health, and perseverance to see the complete Bible translation through to the end.