Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It isthe second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Outside Ethiopia, Amharic is the language of some 2.7 million emigrants (notably in Canada, the UnitedStates, and Sweden).
The first translation of the Bible into Amharic was by Abu-Rumi in the early 19th century. In 1962, the New Haile Selassie I Bible was published, and a revised edition issued in 1986. The Bible Society of Ethiopia published a new translation in 1987, with a revised edition in 2005. The common language edition of the Bible was published by the Bible Society of Ethiopia in 1980. A contemporary translation (similar to the English NIV) was published by International Bible Society in 1987.
Although Christianity became the state religion of Ethiopia in the 4th century, and the Bible was first translated into Ge'ez at about that time, only in the last two centuries have there appeared Translations of the Bible into Amharic.
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