The Book of Mark in Nyah Kur Language
Overview
The Book of Mark in Nyah Kur Language (Phrawanson — using the Thai term พระวรสาร for "Gospel") is the Gospel of Mark in the Nyah Kur (Chaobon) language of Thailand, published by Empower Asia Bible Translation Movement and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4615). It is the first Scripture published on YouVersion in this critically endangered language. The Nyah Kur have only approximately 1,500 speakers and are one of the most historically significant yet least-documented ethnic minorities in Thailand.
Language and People
Nyah Kur (ISO 639-3: cbn; autonym: Chaobon, meaning "people of the wilderness") is a Mon-Khmer language of the Austroasiatic family — specifically classified within the Mon branch alongside the Mon language of Myanmar and Thailand. This linguistic relationship encodes a remarkable historical fact: the Nyah Kur are the last living remnant of the Mon-speaking population of the Dvaravati kingdom (6th–13th centuries CE), the major Buddhist Mon polity that once dominated central Thailand before being absorbed first by the Khmer Empire (Suryavarman II's invasion in the 12th century) and then by the Tai peoples.
When the Dvaravati Mon state collapsed, most Mon communities assimilated into Khmer or Thai culture. A small population retreated into the forested Khorat Plateau highlands — today's Chaiyaphum and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces — and became the Nyah Kur ("people of the forest/uplands"). Linguists consider them the oldest continuously resident population of central Thailand, with a linguistic heritage that stretches back over 1,500 years in the region. Their language preserves archaic Mon features absent in the Mon spoken in Myanmar today.
The Nyah Kur are Theravada Buddhist (like the Mon) with traditional animist practices. They number approximately 1,500 speakers and are classified by Ethnologue at EGIDS 7 (Shifting) — severely endangered, with children primarily acquiring Thai rather than Chaobon/Nyah Kur. Prior to this Gospel of Mark, audio resources in Nyah Kur were available through Global Recordings Network (songs and "Look, Listen and Live" lessons in Thai-script Nyah Kur).
Publishing and Organizations
Published by Empower Asia Bible Translation Movement, a Thai-based organization working with minority language communities in Southeast Asia. The Gospel of Mark is the first and only Scripture currently available in Nyah Kur on YouVersion; no full New Testament has been published.