Shona (chiShona) Bible

The Shona language or chiShona is spoken in Zimbabwe. Shona Union is based on the dialect spoken by the Karanga.

This is the original Shona Union Bible of 1949 produced in Doke orthography as "Baiberi Magwaro Matȿene aMŋari" . The translation project was led by Andries Adriaan Louw of the Dutch Reformed Church Mission. It originally included a Glossary of related words from different Shona dialects called "Mashoko Panedzimŋe Ndimi". It has been reprinted many times, converted to Standard Orthography and it has been corrected and revised since.

Doke orthography was developed for the Shona language in 1931, by South African linguist Professor Clement Martin Doke, but was replaced by Standard Orthography in 1955, which removed the special characters and added the letters "h" and "v" to some characters. The Doke orthography used the letters: ɓ (b with hook), ɗ (d with hook), ŋ (n with leg), ȿ (s with swash tail), ʋ (v with hook), ɀ (z with swash tail). In Standard Orthography the ȿ was replaced by sv, and the ɀ by zv. In Standard Orthography the Bible was called "Bhaibheri Magwaro Matsvene Amwari".