General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry Pastor William Kumuyi has published a Yoruba Bible concordance called Bibeli Mimo Atoka.
Joined by a team of Yoruba scholars, the project is said to have taken 15 years to complete.
Kumuyi’s Bibeli Mimo Atoka was published by the Bible Society of Nigeria.
The church said in a broadcast that the new scripture is “one of the most reliable and readable Bibles” for personal study and teaching.
It further said: “Bibeli Mimo Atoka offers the most literally accurate translation from the original while keeping the integrity of the Bible.
“This new version takes care of changes that have occurred over time in the meaning of some expressions found in ancient Yoruba and makes the Bible more comprehensible and relevant to today’s readers.”
Kumuyi who clocked 79 last June said the Bible was specially prepared, adding that “it is true to the original with cross-references.”
The Deeper Life church leader urged Christian leaders and ministers to start using it, assuring that the major doctrines of the scriptures were highlighted.
Notably, the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria Samuel Ajayi Crowther is credited to have made the first translation of the Bible to Yoruba.
In the 1880s, Crowther had begun to work in languages other than Yoruba, but he continued to supervise the translation of the Yoruba Bible (Bibeli Mimọ), which was completed in the mid-1880s, a few years before his death.
He also translated the Anglican Book of Common Prayer into Yoruba.
Crowther died of a stroke in Lagos on December 31, 1891 and was buried at Ajele Cemetery in Lagos.
Kumuyi’s new project will nonetheless also be remembered as one of his legacy works.
