ProlepsisOpen in the graph →

Contemporary observation

Bible translation: 123 million people with no text at all in their language, and AI enters the projects

Bibles in minority languages on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, in February 2024 (“illumiNations” exhibition): in the foreground, “Holi Baibul”, the Bible in Australian Kriol.
Illustrative image Bibles in minority languages on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, in February 2024 (“illumiNations” exhibition): in the foreground, “Holi Baibul”, the Bible in Australian Kriol. — Photo: Lodders, Wikimedia Commons · CC0

possible · Observation ≠ proven fulfilment

2022-09-01 → 2026-06-15 · Monde

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

What is reported

According to the Wycliffe Global Alliance, the number of languages with the complete Bible rose from 724 (September 2022) to 736 (2023), 756 (2024) and 776 (August 2025); those with at least part of the Bible, from 3,589 to 4,007. According to the United Bible Societies, as of 1 January 2026, 7.6 billion people have at least part of Scripture in their language, 1.5 billion do not have the complete Bible and 123 million still have no text; in 2025, translations appeared in 100 languages, 66 of them first translations. Artificial intelligence has entered the work: SIL’s first-draft tool has been used in “more than 400 projects” since the start of 2024 (SIL, May 2025). The organizations specify that the text produced by AI is “a first draft” that human translators must check, and no independent study yet measures AI’s share in the progress. Wycliffe warns that its figures from one year to the next are hard to compare, because the definitions change.

Main objection (in French for now)

Translating is not preaching: the verb in Matthew 24:14 (κηρυχθήσεται) speaks of a proclamation, which a translation makes possible without proving it.

The text (World English Bible)

Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

Matt 24:4-8

Sources