Yao New Testament (YAOWFW)

Overview

The Yao New Testament, titled “Lilangano lya Sambano,” was published in 2018 as a joint effort of The Word for the World Southern Africa and Pioneer Bible Translators, serving the approximately 3.7 million Yao (Ciyawo) speakers primarily in Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. ^[1] This translation builds on a long history of Ciyawo Scripture work dating back to 1880, when Bible portions were first published; a previous New Testament (“Malangano ga Sambano”) was published by the Bible Society of Malawi in cooperation with SIM in 1992. ^[2] Prior to the full 2018 New Testament, the same partnership published the Gospel of Luke in Kiyao in 2012 in Morogoro, Tanzania. ^[3]

Language and People

Yao (ISO 639-3: yao) is spoken by approximately 3,728,000 people in Malawi. [Glottolog: yaoo1241]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by The Word for the World.

References

• [1] Print Materials - The I Am Yawo Project (ciyawo.org). Overview of Yao Scripture publications.
• [2] Utenga Wambone — the ‘Good News’: An Exploration of Historical Ciyawo Bible Translations - Tobias J. Houston, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 2022. Historical survey of Ciyawo Bible translations.
• [3] Yao language translation insights - TIPs. Translation decisions and background.
• Lilangano lya Sambano - Online text, The Word for the World International
• Bible For Developers - DBL archive entry, Digital Bible Library
• Rosetta Project: Yao Genesis - Internet Archive / Rosetta Project. Genesis in Yao.
• find.bible entry - find.bible. Bible catalogue entry for YAOWFW.
• Global Bible Catalogue - Global Bible Catalogue entry.
• ebible.org entry - ebible.org.