On Sunday, November 21, 2021, Brother Eric Raffaeli, a member of the Angola Branch Committee, released the digital edition of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in the Kimbundu language. Printed copies will be made available in 2022. The prerecorded program was streamed to an estimated audience of 11,000.

In the early 1900’s, the Portuguese colonial government banned Kimbundu, as well as other African languages, in formal education. Today, though, Kimbundu is spoken by about 1.7 million people in Angola, including residents of the capital city, Luanda. It is one of the major languages of the country.

Literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses has been available in Kimbundu since the early 1990’s. But the first Kimbundu-speaking congregation was not established until 2008. Now, there are 55 Kimbundu-speaking congregations in which 2,614 publishers serve.

For many readers, this new translation is easier to understand than a previously available translation of the Bible. For example, in the previous translation, Matthew 5:3 is rendered as: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The New World Translation renders this scripture as: “Happy are those who know that they need God.”

One translator stated: “I am certain this Bible will be a real blessing to our Kimbundu-speaking brothers. It will help them draw closer to Jehovah as they use it in their personal study and in the ministry. I consider it a great privilege to be a small part of this project. For me, it shows Jehovah’s loving-kindness.”

We know this Kimbundu-language Bible will enable our brothers and sisters in that field to continue helping interested ones “understand the sacred secrets of the Kingdom of God.”—Luke 8:10.