People ask us all the time for new versions of the Bible in different languages. Certainly we’re convinced that the best, most natural way to engage with God’s Word is in your own heart language. And with 209 versions in 75 languages already, it might seem like we’d easily be able to add even more. But the truth is, we absolutely couldn’t do what we do without the generous partnership of our Bible society partners.
Here’s another request we hear all the time: “When will YouVersion be available in my language?” It’s a huge effort to translate all of YouVersion’s menus, interfaces, blog posts, technical support, and more into new languages. This task only happens through the tireless devotion of a passionate, worldwide community of volunteers—people just like you—offering their talents in translation to bring the Bible App™ to you in your own language. Thanks to them, we’ve already seen YouVersion translated from English into Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Dutch, French—and of course now into Swedish! We sincerely cannot thank these amazing people enough for all that they do for the YouVersion community.
Bible Publishing Partners
Together with generous Bible Publishers, we’re pleased to present the YouVersion community with accurate, easy-to-read Swedish translations of the Bible:
Swedish, Translation 2000 (SB00-SV). After almost 30 years of work, the “Bibeln 2000” is the result of a broad, interdisciplinary project completed in 2000. A Bible Commission appointed a team of theologians, archaeologists, linguists, historians, specialists in Hebrew language and culture, and many other professionals, tasking them to work together to translate the Bible into contemporary, clear Swedish language. Using modern Biblical research and methods, they sought to retain meaning and original context from the source texts. Graciously provided by the Swedish Bible Society.
Svenska Folkbibeln (SFB). In 1983, the Swedish People’s Bible Foundation set out not only to translate the oldest source texts available as literally as possible, but also to develop from them a version of the Bible that would be easily readable by a modern Swedish audience. Members of the foundation wanted their translation to reflect “God’s presence” and His “direct intervention into human history.” The Svenska Folkbibeln (the “People’s Bible”) was completed in 1998.
Besides these two great Bibles, you’ll also find the Nya Levande Bibeln (BSV), provided by the International Bible Society (now Biblica). And YouVersion even offers more “classic” Bible versions available in the public domain: the Svenska 1917 (SVEN) and the Karl XII 1873 (SK73).
Volunteers
Swedish translations of the Bible are just one piece of all YouVersion has to offer. The Bible App allows you to easily navigate, read, listen, share, annotate, and engage with God’s Word, no matter where you are. But even the best tools would be useless if you couldn’t read them. That’s where volunteers come in. People passionate about sharing God’s Word offer their gifts in translation to bring these tools to Swedish users. Besides constantly improving the Bible App, we’re also now offering technical support in Swedish, so there’s always more translation to be done. And we really need more help for our awesome Swedish-speaking volunteer community. If you can help with Swedish translation—even by responding to requests on Facebook and Twitter—please join us!
We asked some of our key Swedish language volunteers, “What’s it like to work with the YouVersion community all over the world?” Here’s what they had to say:
“When I’d used YouVersion for a couple months, a call for volunteers was made. I immediately saw the need for the Bible App in Swedish and joined at once. I never could have imagined how much fun it is to work side by side with so many nationalities. Being part of a bigger picture gives a whole new meaning. And to think that I get to be a part of getting the Word to even more people!”
—Petter J., Ängelholm, Sweden
“A few months ago, I heard about YouVersion in my Bible study group. I read about it and discovered that it relies on volunteer work. As I previously worked with a translation project, it felt both fun and right to try to contribute to making the Word of God even more accessible in Sweden.”
—Magnus Ö., Gothenburg, Sweden
This post is also available in: Swedish