Mikanda Zili mu Idagi — The Lega-Shabunda Bible

Overview

The complete Bible in Kilega (Lega-Shabunda) — MIKANDA ZILI MU IDAGI — was published in 2002 by the Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM, now Crossworld) in partnership with the Communauté Évangélique des Églises de Beérène au Congo (CEEBCo), a Congolese Protestant church body established in 1930 in the Shabunda territory of South Kivu. Physical Bibles arrived in Congo in 2003. The 2002 full Bible is available as an Android app on Google Play (including parallel French and Swahili texts). The full text took approximately 49 years of intermittent work to complete — the original OT drafts were lost during the Congo wars of the 1960s.

A separate older edition — the Nouveau Testament en Kilega (1957) — was published by the Bible Society of the DRC and is available on YouVersion (version 1497, code NTKI57; note: YouVersion classifies this edition under language code lgm rather than lea).

Translators

Maxine Gordon, Jim Lindquist, and Louise Lindquist, missionaries with UFM, led the translation spanning roughly 49 years. Earlier portions (1934–1942) were produced by earlier UFM missionaries in the region.

Language and People

Kilega (Lega-Shabunda, ISO 639-3: lea), also known as Rega or Lega, is a Bantu language of the Benue-Congo family spoken in the forests of South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier scripture portions date to 1934–1942, the New Testament to 1954/1957.

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM), now operating as Crossworld (crossworld.org), in partnership with CEEBCo.

References