Albanian Bible Project

The Albanian Bible Translation project started as a result of many years of prayers of many Albanian Bible believers and churches to have an accurate translation of the words of God in the Albanian language. 

While there are bibles in Albanian, there is still a lack of an accurate Bible translation text. Because we believe that every word of God is pure (Prov 30:5), and His words are Spirit and Life (John 6:63), our prayer and desire is to provide an accurate translation of the scriptures alongside Bible study tools for Albanian speaking people inside Albania, the neighboring countries where ethnic Albanians live, as well as others living elsewhere in the world. 

Erion and Jonida Vogli

Mission

To provide an accurate translation of the Bible in the Albanian language, from the King James English Bible. Other Bibles in the Textus Receptus line of manuscripts will be consulted, such as the Reina-Valera, Giovanni Diodatti and the available texts from Kostandin Kristoforidhi. This translation will be supported by Bible study tools such as Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, bible dictionaries, etymological dictionaries, synonyms dictionaries and a long list of books and supporting materials in manuscript evidence, translation resources, etc.

Vision

Provide the Albanian church with an accurate translation of the Bible that anyone with the desire and the guidance of the Holy Spirit can read, study, and grow thereby.

Ministry Goals

Short Term Goals

  • Accurate translation of every single unique word in the Bible, as determined by its biblical usage and context.

  • Accurate translation of each verse, chapter and book of the Bible as determined by the use of unique words.

  • Compiling of an accurate concordance and Bible dictionary available online.

  • The design of an integrated website for all these tools and more for in-depth biblical study.

Mid-term Goals

  • The printing of the Albanian bible in various formats.

  • Audio version of the entire text.

Long Term

  • Study Bible

  • Various supporting materials, church history, manuscript evidence, etc.

Prayer Requests

We greatly appreciate your prayers and support. 

Please remember these prayer requests in the coming weeks. 

  • Reaching the translation of 70% of the words is an important milestone for us. We have had a setback due to Erion’s surgeries and some unexpected complications. We desire to complete 100% of the words by the end of the year. Please pray that the Lord would make this possible. 

  • We desperately need the Lord’s direction in the translation process, especially when encountering difficult words or concepts. Please pray that God will enlighten our spiritual eyes to discern the best way. 

  • Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of the Albanian people and the Albanian churches to receive the word when the new translation comes out. 

  • We are in need of a good logo design for the website and Bible mobile apps. 

  • Please pray for God’s protection upon our lives, work and our children. 

TRANSLATION APPROACH 

After researching how other teams have approached a Bible translation, because we believe that every word of God is pure, inspired and preserved, we took the approach of translating each unique word in the Bible before translating the actual text. 

Our purpose for this approach is twofold. First, we desire to keep the consistency of the words as used in the scripture from Genesis to Revelation, understanding that God uses specific words to convey doctrinal truths. Translating the text first without a system of keeping track how God has used each word in the scriptures opens the door for conflating words with synonyms and loosing the ability to trace a word in a word study. Secondly, the translation would take longer if the text is translated first, since if due diligence is done on looking up every word in every verse, the same work would be repeated without an added benefit. 

We decided to do this work upfront, to lookup every word of the Bible, everywhere it appears, determine the context and provide a translation. 

Since we work at the word level first, we are also providing a biblical dictionary of the words and a concordance. Our approach in translation is word for word, phrase for phrase, concept for concept, context for context. 

To find out more information, please visit our website https://www.albanianbibleproject.com.