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The
full Arabic Bible will be released this May in two
Middle Eastern cities by the World Bible Translation
Center. The New Testament is already available in Arabic
and making headway in the Middle East. The Old Testament
has been highly anticipated by many and will finally
mark the
completion of the Bible in Arabic, the primary
language of over 280 million people.
People seem to be fairly open to the Bible in the Middle
East, especially among the younger generation. "They're
eager to know more about what we believe; and they're
open to understand things that maybe older generations
in the past were not ready to understand or to accept,"
says Arabic Editor of the Bible translation, Salah
Abbasi.
If the Word of God catches on among youth, this could
mean great things for future generations in the region.
"We think that the only hope for the Arab world and
these multiple crises is to have the Word of God
available," expresses Abbasi.
Among older generations, there remains some fear,
implanted by teachings of Islam, to read the Bible.
"They sometimes to feel they are not even allowed to
touch that book because it is a corrupt book; it's an
unclean book for them," says Abbassi. With continued
prayer for courage against these fears, however, Abbasi
says he thinks "that this translation will have a great
influence all over the Arab world.”
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