Border Kuna New Testament (KVNWBT)

Overview

The Border Kuna New Testament was translated by Denis Keith Forster and his wife Wilma, who moved to the Border Kuna village of Paya in September 1971, located in the jungle rainforest on the Panama-Colombia border [1][2]. With the help of teenager Ricardo Bastidas, they learned the Border Kuna language and began translation work, completing and publishing the New Testament in 1993 [1]. The Border Kuna (also called Kuna de la Frontera or Paya-Pucuro Kuna) are a small indigenous group living in the Darien province of Panama near the Colombian border [3]. In January 1993, the same month the New Testament was completed, three missionaries from New Tribes Mission working among the Kuna in the nearby village of Pucuro were kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and later killed, underscoring the dangers faced by those serving in the region [4][5]. Wycliffe missionaries subsequently arrived in Panama in the mid-1990s to continue Scripture distribution efforts, and a second edition of the Border Kuna New Testament was published in 2009 [2][6]. Keith Forster also partnered with Kuna pastor Lino Smith on a San Blas Kuna New Testament (published 1995) and later a complete San Blas Kuna Bible, which was dedicated in 2014 as the 531st completely translated Bible in the world [1].

Language and People

Border Kuna (ISO 639-3: kvn) is spoken by approximately 3,500 people in Northern Colombia. [Glottolog: bord1248]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA.

References