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And the 1,000th Bible Version is…

The YouVersion community has now reached a truly global milestone: The Bible App just added its 1,000th Bible version! With Bibles available in more than 700 languages, that means that millions of people are now reading God’s Word in the language of their hearts, together.

Version number 1,000 is Deftera Lfida Dzratawi (XEDNT), the first digital translation of the New Testament into Hdi (pronounced huh-DEE), a language spoken mostly in Cameroon and neighboring Nigeria. Generously provided to the YouVersion community by Wycliffe, this Bible’s translation is an incredible story of perseverance and love decades in the making…

Completed Deftera Lfida Dzratawi NT, delivered to Hdi in late 2013

The Deftera Lfida Dzratawi is Living and Active

A seed planted. In the 1970’s, John† was a Christian from the Mafa language group who felt God calling him to move his family to live among the Hdi people in the mountains of Cameroon. Together, John and his family lived out his vision to learn Hdi and to share the Gospel with its people, eventually leading a small group of 12- and 13-year-old boys to a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Savior.

The faithful continue watering. In 1987, Beth Gathman and Cindy Langermann came to live among the Hdi people, hoping to lay the groundwork for an eventual Hdi language Bible. By that time, two of the boys from John’s original small group, Philip† and Steven†, had grown into young men. These first generation Hdi Christians taught Beth and Cindy how to speak the language, then continued working with them to analyze and document its various structures.

When Beth and Cindy moved on to other careers in 1995, Lee and Tammi Bramlett moved their family to Cameroon to continue the work. And Philip and Steven were right there to welcome them, determined to help see the translation through, so that the nearly 45,000 Hdi speakers in Cameroon and Nigeria could  have a Bible that was truly their own.

In Hdi: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6)

The harvest realized. Translators completed the Hdi text in partnership with SIL International and the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy, and in September 2012, the Deftera Lfida Dzratawi was typeset. After printing and shipping, the final XEDNT was joyfully delivered to the Hdi people in a special dedication ceremony in December 2013.

Hdi hold the NT, translated into their own language, for the 1st time

A New Kind of Love

The Hdi people deeply value humility, hospitality, and love. But the Hdi who assisted in the translation were surprised to discover a new way to apply a word that was known but rarely used. Hdi had a word for love, dvi, that means you once felt love for someone, but that love had faded over time. Hdi also had another, more common word for love, dva, that means you love someone because they do things for you. But when the Hdi reexamined a word seldom used in their language, dvu, which means to love someone unconditionally, no matter who they are or what they do, they discovered a whole new way they could apply it to their lives: recognizing it as the way that God loves them. Now the Hdi are convinced that dvu has the power to transform their entire culture.

Hdi reach toward the Deftera Lfida Dzratawi as they pray at its dedication

†Names changed to protect the privacy of these individuals.

Did you know…

  • 87% of Christians with Internet access can read or listen to the Bible in their own language on the Bible App?
  • The Bible App offers text in more languages than any other app?
  • If you stacked 1,000 Bibles on top of each other, they’d be as tall as Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue?

See the full infographic…

Click to see more

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Now Available Offline: NIV & Other Versions from Biblica

ephesians3The New International Version (NIV) and 30 other versions from Biblica are now available for free download through the Bible App™.

Biblica has been a valuable partner since YouVersion’s early days, and we’re thrilled with their bold move to make this diverse collection of versions available to the global YouVersion community.

These versions represent some of your favorites in twenty-five languages, including Nueva Versión Internacional, NVI in Spanish and Nova Versão Internacional, NVI Brazilian Portuguese, 현대인의 성경, KLB in Korean, New International Version, NIV-UK in British English, Hoffnung für alle, HFA in German, Het Boek, HTB in Dutch, and La Bible du Semeur, BDS in French. It’s a huge step forward in increasing worldwide Scripture engagement and availability.

If you download any of these versions to your device, you’ll be able to read it anytime, anywhere—even when you can’t connect to your service provider or to the Internet. And this is not a limited-time special offer.

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Beginning today, Biblica is making these versions available offline on an ongoing basis.

(If you’re not sure how to download a Bible version to your device, visit our support website to learn how easy it is!)

We are deeply grateful for Biblica’s partnership and all that it has already meant to YouVersion and to our community worldwide. Biblica continues to demonstrate increasing passion about the mission of helping this generation become the most Bible-engaged generation in history.

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New Bible App Updates, Another Huge Milestone, and More!

Recently the worldwide YouVersion community completed more than 10 million Plans! Over and over again, you tell us how much Plans help you make God’s Word a daily part of your life. In 2009, we offered just one Plan. At the beginning of 2010, we launched 20 new Plans. Today, we offer more than 550 Plans, and this year alone, we’ve already seen 4.3 million Plans completed. That means that on average, Bible App users are currently completing more than 20,000 Plans a day!

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Top Completed Plans (All-Time):

This Month’s Most Popular Plans:

More Good Things to Come

All-New Windows 8 Release. We completely reimagined the Bible App for Windows 8 and Windows RT. It’s the smoothest, most easy-to-use mobile Windows version we’ve ever offered!

All-New BlackBerry 10 Release. As soon as BlackBerry introduced their all-new, advanced BB10, we knew we wanted to update the Bible App to take full advantage. BlackBerry fans, keep your eye on our blog for details because a new release is coming soon!

More Languages Than Ever. The Bible App has been installed and used in every country on earth—something that wouldn’t be possible without YouVersion’s generous Bible publishing partners and global network of volunteers. The YouVersion community is opening more than 600 Bible versions representing over 375 languages, and accessing the app menus, buttons, Plans, and more in 30+ languages!

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The Bible App Around the World: Over 600 Versions, 375 Languages

YouVersion Versions and LanguagesNo matter where you live, no matter what language you prefer, we want to help you engage with the Bible every day. You may know that thanks to YouVersion’s generous Bible publishing partners, the Bible App™ already offers more than 600 versions of the Bible in more than 375 languages. What you may not know is that the Bible App has been installed and used in every country on earth, and that about 40% of new installs take place outside North America.

Of course, the Bible App is more than the Bible. We want your entire experience exploring God’s Word to be fulfilling. But we couldn’t do that without help. More than 350 volunteers all over the world passionately devote themselves to ensuring you enjoy the Bible. They share their talents and time translating basics like screens, menus, and buttons into your language, as well as all of the Bible App tools you know and love, like Reading Plans, Notes, and more.

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That’s why today—right now—you can use the Bible App for iOS (Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch) in any of 33 languages. The Bible App for Android offers 40. And bible.com has 42. On iOS or Android, the Bible App defaults to your device’s language, or you can change it in the app Settings. At bible.com, simply select your favorite language at the bottom right. The languages we’ve most recently rolled out include Malay, Catalan, Albanian, Portuguese (Portugal), and even Arabic!

The Bible App has been installed more than 100 million times so far. Each one of those installs—wherever it happens in the world—represents a story, a person, a life connected to God and to His Word. You can be a part of that, too, every time you share the Bible App with someone who speaks a language other than English. It starts with 100 million.

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Celebrating 5 Years of the Bible App: Thank You

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us,
to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
—Ephesians 3:20, New Living Translation

Engagement

A Simple App. When Apple opened its App Store on July 10, 2008, YouVersion’s Bible App™ for iOS was there, one of only 200 free apps. No one knew if that experiment would even work, let alone what impact apps and smartphones might one day have on our lives. With the App Store passing 50 billion app downloads in May this year, it’s clear we’re just beginning to see what’s possible.

Engaging with God’s Word. YouVersion didn’t stop there, of course. We made the Bible App for every popular platform we could: BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone—even Palm OS! Then we just kept going, building the Bible App for international platforms like Java, Symbian, and mobile users in general. We wanted to make it easy and free to get the Bible, so more people than ever could experience it for themselves. And today we’re more focused than ever on helping as many people as possible daily engage with God’s Word.

A Team of Millions. As word began spreading about what God was up to, Bible publishers and societies, churches, and other partners joined in, generously sharing resources. As those collaborations began to bear fruit, the YouVersion community erupted into a worldwide movement. Now, hundreds of passionate people in many countries and languages are volunteering their God-given gifts to help get the Bible into even more people’s hands…and hearts.

Changing the World. With more than 500 Bible versions in more than 300 languages, the Bible App today represents the single largest digital Bible community in the world. And you are the difference. Click the image at right to see just a snapshot of how you are changing the world, ways that you are helping make this the most Bible-engaged generation in history.

We’re just getting started. While it’s extraordinary to think of the Bible App on 100 million smartphones and tablets, more than 7 billion people share this planet with us. In the coming months, we’ll bring you several exciting new announcements: features, partnerships, plans, and tools that will help people engage more with the Bible than ever before. We can’t say, “Thank you,” enough for all that you’ve already done. And we can’t even guess what God is going to do—more than we can ask, think, or imagine. But we do know this much:

It STARTS with 100 million.