Ngoni Bible

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Ngoni Bible (XNJWFW)

Overview

The Ngoni Bible is a New Testament translation in Chingoni (kiNgoni), published in 2020 by The Word for the World International. It represents the first Scripture publication in the Chingoni language of Tanzania. [1] The translation serves a community whose ancestors migrated over a thousand miles from southern Africa during the Mfecane upheavals of the early 19th century. [2]

Translation History

The Word for the World International, a Bible translation organization focused on providing Scripture to language communities without it, undertook the Chingoni New Testament translation as part of its broader program in Tanzania, where the organization has completed multiple New Testament projects. [1]

Language and People

Chingoni (ISO 639-3: xnj) is spoken by approximately 311,000 people in southern Tanzania, primarily in the Songea District of the Ruvuma Region. [Glottolog: ngon1269]

The Ngoni are descendants of the Nguni peoples of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. During the Mfecane — a period of widespread upheaval and forced migration caused by the rise of the Zulu kingdom in the early 19th century — groups of Nguni warriors and their followers migrated northward across thousands of miles. [2] The Maseko Ngoni, led by Ngwane, crossed the Zambezi River in 1839 and eventually settled in what is now the Songea District of southern Tanzania in the 1840s. [3] Their military organization, modeled on the Zulu age-set regiment system, allowed them to absorb conquered peoples into their ranks, and by the early 20th century the Ngoni had become more of a ruling class than a distinct ethnic group. [3] Today the Ngoni practice agriculture, trading, and fishing. [4]

References