The Wall Also Has Good News: A Record Year for Bible Translation

Reports from the Wall · No. 3

A watchman's job is not only to sound the alarm. It is also to call out the sunrise. Our first reports carried hard news from Nigeria, Iran, and North Korea — and we will keep telling the truth about the cost. But this month we have something else to report from the wall: ground gained, on a scale that would have sounded impossible a few years ago.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.”
— Matthew 24:14 (ESV)

A 44 percent drop in a single year

Here is the number that stopped us. A year ago, researchers counted 985 languages that had no Bible translation started at all, even though the work was ready to begin. Twelve months later that figure had fallen by 44 percent. As of April 2026, the count of languages still waiting for translation to begin stands at around 514 — down from 985 the year before, and down from more than 2,000 as recently as 2020.

Step back and the scale is staggering. In 1999, more than 5,000 languages had no Scripture at all. Since then, Bible translation movements have engaged more than 4,600 languages that previously had nothing. The finish line that generations of believers prayed toward is, for the first time, actually in view.

What one year produced

It was called a historic year for good reason: in a single twelve-month stretch, 118 full Bibles and New Testaments were completed and launched into the hands of people who had never held Scripture in their own language. Whole communities heard God speak their mother tongue for the very first time. Some of the fastest progress is happening in the places with the greatest remaining need — in Indonesia, the number of languages still waiting fell from 159 to 53 in about a year.

Why this belongs on the wall

Because the two halves of this series are the same story. The believer in a North Korean labour camp, the convert in an Iranian living room, the widow in a Nigerian village — what they hold onto, at the cost of everything, is the Word. Every language that crosses from zero to Scripture is one more people who will never again have to choose between their heart language and the Gospel. The persecution reports tell you what the Word is worth. This report tells you it is winning ground.

Three things you can do today

• Fund the translation that finishes the map. Wycliffe Bible Translators and its partners are doing exactly this work, language by language, and every gift moves the count closer to zero.
• Stand with the persecuted who treasure that Word. Open Doors and The Voice of the Martyrs serve the believers who risk everything to read it.
• Tell someone the good news is real. Discouragement is a weapon. Share this report as evidence that the light is still advancing.

Where ChristKeys stands

Unlocked Global Missions is the giving program of ChristKeys. Ten percent of every order is set aside and granted to established frontline organizations serving the persecuted Church and translating Scripture for the languages still waiting for it. We publish where the money goes. When we say we help put the Word in every heart language, this — the count falling toward zero — is the wall we are helping to build.

The watchman calls the alarm. The watchman also calls the dawn. This is us, calling the dawn.