Cofán Bible (CONWBT)

Overview

New Testament and Genesis in Cofán (EC:con:Cofán), with the complete New Testament dedicated in October 1980 and an Abridged Old Testament following in January 1990; the combined edition is published under the 2012 copyright of Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. The Cofán people (endonym: Aʼi, language: Aʼingae) are an indigenous people of the Ecuadorian and Colombian Amazon, living along the Aguarico River and in the Sucumbíos Province of northeastern Ecuador, with smaller communities in southern Colombia. ^[1][2] Their population declined from an estimated 15,000 in the mid-sixteenth century to approximately 1,500–2,100 by the early twenty-first century, largely as a result of epidemic disease, colonization, and the devastating impact of twentieth-century oil exploration. ^[1] SIL missionaries Bub (Marlytte) and Bobbie Borman arrived among the Cofán in 1954 to translate the Bible and develop literacy; they also opened a school in the Cofán language and produced the first written orthography. ^[3][4] Their son Randy Borman, born in 1955 in the Cofán village of Dureno, grew up bilingual and became a Cofán community leader and environmental advocate, representing the intersection of missionary contact and indigenous self-determination. ^[3] The Cofán language, Aʼingae, is generally considered a language isolate, and is today relatively vital in Ecuador while severely endangered in Colombia. ^[2]

Language and People

Cofán (ISO 639-3: con) is spoken by approximately 1,020 people. [Glottolog: cofa1242]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA.

References

• [1] Cofán people — Wikipedia - Wikipedia. Ethnographic and historical overview of the Cofán (Aʼi) people.
• [2] Aʼingae (Ecuador and Colombia) — Language Documentation and Description Journal - Language Documentation and Description. Language snapshot covering vitality, speaker numbers, and classification.
• [3] Randy Borman, the man who became Cofán — Butler Nature - Butler Nature, 2025. Account of the Borman family’s arrival in 1954, New Testament dedication in 1980, and Randy Borman’s life.
• [4] Cofán language — Wikipedia - Wikipedia. Language classification as an isolate and notes on orthography development by the Borman missionaries.
• BibleSearch - Online text, American Bible Society
• Audio Bible - Audio Bible, Faith Comes By Hearing
• NT - Online text, Faith Comes By Hearing
• Chiga Tevaen’Jema Atesuja 1, Aisheve Caña’cho - Online text, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.
• Bible For Developers - DBL archive entry, Digital Bible Library
• find.bible entry - find.bible. Bible catalogue entry for CONWBT.
• Global Bible Catalogue - Global Bible Catalogue entry.
• ebible.org entry - ebible.org.