The Book of Proverbs was presented March 30 at the Museum of Applied Arts in this capital city, reported the Compass Direct news agency.
This nation of 24.7 million north of Afghanistan prohibits proselytizing or private religious instruction by its tightly restricted religious minorities. Under a 1998 law, religious groups must obtain a license to publish or distribute materials.
«This edition was published with the permission of the government,» Bible Society director Sergei Mitin told Compass. With a press run of 10,000 copies, half of the 79-page booklets are printed in the familiar Cyrillic script, with the remaining 5,000 in the newer Latin script.
The translation of the entire Old Testament into Uzbek, projected to take another six years or more, is a joint project of the Bible Society in cooperation with the Summer Institute of Linguistics, the Sweden-based Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) and the United Bible Societies. An IBT edition of the entire Uzbek New Testament together with Genesis, Psalms and Proverbs is now available abroad.