Bible in Urdu

IBS Urdu Bible Released to Preach to 400 Million in South Asia
The International Bible Society (IBS) recently announced that the Urdu version of the Holy Bible has been released last month in New Delhi, India. Urdu is a language spoken by more than 400 million people across South Asia, therefore the new translation will become a powerful tool to preach the word of God to people in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and even some parts in Europe.

"We praise God for His precious gift of the Holy Word in the Urdu language that is spoken today," IBS President Peter Bradley said. "We believe this translation will lead many people to the saving knowledge and hope for abundant life found in Jesus Christ."

"IBS determined a new translation was needed because the Urdu-speaking people, most of whom are Muslim, were using a 1935 revision of a translation originally done 160 years ago," said IBS Group Vice President PLN Murthy.

"Urdu" is a Turkish word which means "foreign". This shows that the language represents its origin being an amalgamation of foreigners with the natives of South Asia. It was formulated by the interaction of foreign army, merchants and immigrants to India.

Today, it is the national language of Pakistan and is quite similar to the neighbouring country India's national language Hindi. In fact, the grammar of Urdu has some similarities to Hindi.

The translation culminates 13 years of work by a team of 25 scholars from South Asia led by Dr. Sam Bhajjan, a distinguished scholar in Islamic studies.

http://www.christiantoday.com/news/min/230.htm

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when christian missionary reached India, the natural language for their preaching became Urdu, not only because it was the lingua franca but also because of its powerful way of conveying meaning. Even now Hindi Bibles are Urdu written in Hindi script.