Persians were mentioned among those listed on the day of Pentecost and there has been a Christian presence throughout history.
There are at least 80 languages spoken within Iran, including some also spoken in surrounding countries. Some are spoken by millions, some by tens or hundreds of thousands, some by less.
Some have high status, some are persecuted minorities in their homeland. Many people may speak more than one language.
Map from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Iran
Worldmaper / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Scripture is available in a number of the languages of Iran contributing to a significant and growing number of Christians among some of the communities.
Languages with known published scripture are listed below:
Persian Iranian (Farsi), Standard Arabic, Southern Kurdish, Southern Azerbaijani (Iraqi Turkmen), Central Kurdish (Sorani), Bakhtiari, Gilaki, Mazandarani, South Western Turkmen, Balochi, Northern Luri (Luristani), Gurani, Hazaragi, Dari, Northern Kurdish
|
|
|
Persian Iranian [pes] also known as Farsi is the official statutory language of Iran, spoken as a first language by about 50 million Iranians but there are several other languages used as regional languages and languages of education. The interface for bible.com and the YouVersion app is available in Farsi at bible.com/fa. ELAM ministries has published over 200 Christian books in Persian and has a page pointing to further useful sites and resources. In 2019 the Church of England launched an official translation of the Communion service in Farsi. A range of worship resources for English speaking churches with Farsi speakers can be found at bit.ly/persiansongs. These include songs translated from English to Farsi and from Farsi to English. |
|
|
|
Standard Arabic [arb] is a recognised language in the constitution and used in education. Estimates suggest 1.3 million people may use it as their first languages within Iran. There are several translations of the Bible into Modern Standard Arabic. The True Meaning translation is particularly intended to communicate well to Muslims. The New Testament in pdf format and audio recordings are available on the Prophet Stories website. Also recommended is the Sharif Bible. The Book of Life (Kitaab al-Hayaat), Today’s Arabic Version and the New Arabic Version are also good modern translations, particularly for Arabic-speaking Christians. The Sharif Bible, and the Kitaab al-Hayaat are available as audio recordings from Faith Comes by Hearing on Bible.is. |
|
|
|
Southern Kurdish [sdh] is spoken by over 3.6 million speakers. Portions of scripture were first translated at the end of the 19th century and more recently the Jesus film was made available in the Kermanshani dialect. |
|
|
|
Southern Azerbaijani [azb], also known as Iraqi Turkmen or Azeri has about 11 million speakers in Iran (with about 3 million in Jordan, Iraq and Turkey). The Iranian Azeri Bible Version was published by Elam Ministries in 2013, containing the New Testament along with Psalms and Proverbs, and is available on Bible.com The Jesus film is also available. A wide range of resources is available at korpu.org |
|
|
|
Central, Kurdish [ckb], is also known as Sorani. In 2014 were estimated to be over 527,000 in Iran with another 4 million in Iraq. |
|
|
|
Bakhtiari [bqi] has about 1.2 million speakers. The Gospel of Luke is available via Faith Comes By Hearing with text audo and video. This translation also served in the production of the Jesus Film. Both of these are available in sections on enjil-si-bakhtiari.com |
|
|
|
Gilaki [glk] is spoken by 2.4 million people as a first language |
|
|
|
Mazandarani [mzn] |
|
|
|
South Western Turkmen [tuk] |
|
|
|
Balochi |
|
|
|
Luri, Northern [lrc] also sometimes called Luristani has nearly 1.8 million speakers. The Jesus film is available in Northern Luri. There are some recordings made by Global Recordings in the early 1970’s. |
|
|
|
Gurani, With 300,000 speakers is a small population compared to some of the other languages but does have a recording of the Jesus Film |
|
|
|
Hazaragi [haz] is spoken by over 2.2 million speakers. These are mainly in Afghanistan but there were an estimated 370,000 speakers in Iran. The gospel of Luke is available on lightforhazaras.com along with some worship songs and other videos. |
|
|
|
Dari, also known as Afghan Persian or Eastern Farsi, is spoken by about 9 million people around the world including 370,000 in Iran. |
|
|
|
Northern Kurdish [kmr] has 465,000 speakers in Iran. There are a number of distinct varieties including Kurmanji Kurdish is a also spoken in parts of northern Syria, and much of eastern Turkey. Khorasani Kumanji is another form of Northern Kurdish in which a New Testament was published in 1894 but does not appear to be online. |
