Zotung Chin Bible

• Location: Myanmar
• Bible Target Completion Date: 2035

A very distinct ethnic people, the Zo Mingphuin originated from a Tibeto-Burman group and remain familiar with all other Chin groups. However, they have developed their own unique written language, which is unintelligible to the other groups. For many years, no written language existed for Zo Mingphuin, which made it difficult to obtain historical records of its people. However, the ancient stories and traditional songs passed down from as early as 1300 reveal valuable details such as locations and time periods that tell the history of this people group.

Although they have called themselves Zo Mingphuin from their early days, others have referred to them by the name "Zotung" from the time of the British rule of Myanmar. Of the 40,000 Zotung people, 75% profess Christianity, although only an estimated 42% claim to be evangelical. In 1931, the Roman alphabet was first used to record the written language of the Zotung, and public schools teach the language today. In recent years, Bibles International has printed both a primer and the first Old Testament Storybook in the Zotung language.

After years of partnership with Zotung believers, the Zotung New Testament translation was completed in 2012. At the New Testament dedication, all the copies from this first printing quickly found their way into the hands of the enthusiastic believers. Happy with their new translation but not content with having only the New Testament, the Zotung desired a complete Bible in their language. Zotung translator San Boi stated, "We understand that the New Testament alone is not complete. We realize that we must have both the New Testament and Old Testament in the Zotung language."

Although another organization had produced a complete Bible in their language in 2016, the conservative Zotung churches found that translation unreliable and requested a better translation. In a letter requesting BI to adopt the project, the Bibles International Myanmar Society wrote, "[T]he Zotung Bible translation committee and the translators have a great burden for their people to have a trustworthy Bible." In time, a new concern arose that the Zotung believers might not continue to use the BI-produced Zotung New Testament due to the difficulty of carrying the complete Bible in another translation or even another language in addition to the Zotung New Testament.

After considering the strong arguments for the completion of the Old Testament in Zotung, BI adopted the project in 2018. San Boi remains the chief translator, with Tua Ting Lian serving as the assistant translator. The first Old Testament Scripture portion, the book of Jonah, was published as an app in 2023.

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