How Far We've Come

The Bible is a living, breathing book—filled with wisdom, guidance, history, parables, and prophecy. It is the foundation of discipleship, preaching, and growing in our faith.

When Jesus commissioned His disciples in Matthew 28 to go into all nations and share the good news, they didn’t go empty-handed. They carried with them the message that would become the New Testament—a record of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for the world. But how can you teach about God without the Scriptures in the language people understand?

Bible Translation, therefore, is not a new concept. As far back as 382 A.D., the Bible was translated from Hebrew to Latin. John Wycliffe, in the 14th century, translated the Bible from Latin to Middle English for the common man. William Tyndale translated the Bible into English in 1530 and from that translation, the King James version borrows many of its colloquialisms. Though translation efforts slowed down for a while, there was a renewed hope when Cameron Townsend founded SIL in 1934 [Wycliffe.org].

In the 1990’s, Reinier De Blois, a translator and software developer, sought to solve a common problem: how could a translator work effectively in the field without hauling dozens of heavy reference books? His solution? A digital tool that could store and analyze exegetical data in one place. A former translator in West Africa remembers working with Reinier at the beginning of the software’s journey—where several translators would ask for helpful features that would make translation easier, more efficient and accurate. What started as an exegetical tool later became what we now call Paratext, UBS and SIL’s Bible Translation Software.

For 30 years, Paratext has grown and become the premiere translation tool for Bible Translators all over the world. The same translator from West Africa had the experience of working without Paratext—hand-typing translations on carbon copy with a team—and with Paratext around 2006-2007. 

"Paratext is a huge game changer for speed of translation, but also for enabling you to benefit from other people’s insight and wisdom in a way that you can do in seconds instead of minutes." 

As technology has advanced so too has translation efforts. As of June 2025, there are 775 whole Bible translations, 1,787 New Testament translations, and 1,411 portions of scripture translated [Wycliffe.org]. Paratext is at the heart of this work, enabling translators and consultants to carry on the work that started in 30-60 A.D. when the disciples step forth from their homes and the lives they knew, journeyed near and far, to further God’s love and mercy to all the nations. 

The mission isn’t over—yet. More than 3,000 languages still lack access to God’s Word. But every translation started with someone who said yes.

Whether you’re a translator, developer, donor, or advocate, there’s a place for you in this story. Download the beta, join our community, or give today—and help bring God’s Word to every tribe and tongue.

If you’d like to be a part of this journey with us, you can download Beta 1 of Paratext 10 Studio on Windows, macOS, and Linux to discover what our team is doing. If you’re a translator and looking to start on a project, visit the Paratext 9 website to register and download the application. If you’d like to discuss or be a part of the community, please visit our Discord Channel or ask questions on Support.Bible. To donate to keep Paratext going, please visit our donation page. 

God is doing something incredible in our day and age. Join us in our efforts to see the Bible in the hand of every tribe, every tongue, every nation, every person.

Photo credit: Don Hesse