A one-volume commentary, written in English, by 91 evangelical scholars from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh (including most of the Langham Scholars in the region) and edited by South Asian Biblical scholars on all the books of the Bible. About 30 translators then worked on the English text, and that took almost 3 and half years to complete. That was followed by language and theological editing and that took a further 18 months. The translators included retired pastors, seminary teachers, and other believers. All members of the translation team were drawn from Rajasthan, UP, and MP – that is, the Hindi heartland.
A commentary of this size, with 1.6 million words in English, translated for a Hindi-speaking believer is far-reaching. Hindi is probably the third-most used language in the world and by far the largest language in India. The 2011 census indicates that there are 528 million speakers of Hindi in India and accounted for the 37 per cent of the total population. Both for the historic churches and the growing new churches, and Christian leaders at the grass-root level, pastors, students, and lay leaders, who under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can be instrumental in the establishment and nurture of a vibrant church in the region will be benefitted by this Hindi resource, the first of its kinds.
