Pente New Testament & Literacy

• Location: Asia
• Pseudonym: Pente
• New Testament Completion Target Date: 2031

The Pente people, numbering over 90 million, live in a restricted access nation in Asia. Approximately 1.5% of the population profess Christianity, with nearly one-third of them claiming to be evangelical. Pente reading and writing are taught in urban areas only.

As many as 204 people groups use the Pente language as their primary language. Although the Pente community can speak the national language of their country, they do not fully understand it. A pastor aptly illustrated the need for a Pente translation when he shared with the BI research team, "I originally taught my people in the national language and read the Bible in the national language. Once finished with the teaching, I asked them what they had learned. All were silent. Therefore, I [began] to teach in Pente—translating the Bible passages into Pente—and everything changed. The people were happy now and could understand and relate back what I was teaching." Fourteen other pastors present in this meeting confirmed the need for a vernacular translation.

Bibles International was first connected with this people group in 2014 through Christian Pente speakers living in the northeastern United States. After a considerable amount of research, BI adopted the Pente New Testament translation project in January 2019 and later added a literacy component. The 2019 Bibles International Harvest Dinner focused on the Pente project and raised the amount needed to begin the project. View the video that was shown at the Harvest Dinner.

Since then, the Pente New Testament translation work has been taking place with BI consultants working in-person and online with Pente translators to bring the Word of God into their native language. This project has been the first to experiment with tablet technology for its Read-and-Review Committee, and it is also the first BI translation that reads from right to left. The first Pente Scripture portions, the Gospels of Matthew and John, were printed in 2023 and have been well-received. They are currently being recorded for audio distribution.