The Bible Society Of Tanzania

The Bible Society of Tanzania (BST) is a non-profit inter confessional organisation registered as a Non-Governmental Organisation, Registration No. S05722 of 1970. The headquarters of BST is in Dodoma, the capital city of the United Republic of Tanzania and seat of both government and parliament. BST maintains warehouse facilities in Dar-es-Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania. In addition, BST has zonal offices in Dar-es-Salaam and Mwanza. It is a full member of the United Bible Societies (UBS), a Worldwide Fellowship of the Bible Societies. The membership of UBS has given BST official recognition by the Churches as the organisation responsible for translation, production and supply of Scripture in Tanzania. Even though there are a number of agencies involved in Bible work in Tanzania; the task of translation of the Bible into Kiswahili and other local languages has been carried largely by BST. The translation of parts of the Bible into Kiswahili in 1868 marked the beginning of Bible work in Tanzania. A complete New Testament translation was completed in 1879 and translation of the whole Bible was completed in 1890. BST has since then undertaken several translations which include the Union translation published in 1950, the Swahili Common Language Version which was published in 1977, and Biblia Habari Njema (a modern translation) first published in 1996. Since inception BST has completed translation of 16 New Testaments and 5 whole Bibles in local languages respectively.