Much of the Bible rotates around Israel. We read about scribes who put ink to scrolls and helped to copy God’s word to keep it alive from generation to generation.
However, due to wars and destruction, the very land that gave the world the Bible became bereft of God’s Word in prolonged periods of time. The physical ruin, poverty, and illiteracy in Israel also coincided with the death of God’s written Word. Physical restoration of the Promised Land only began in the nineteenth century with the Zionist return to the land.
The Bible Society of Israel as we know it today was founded in 1949 after the establishment of the State and the first full Bible in Hebrew was only printed in Israel in 1959.
In 1969 the idea was put forward to translate the New Testament into modern Hebrew. The work was begun in 1970. The first New Testament in modern Hebrew was printed in 1977.
In 1993 the Bible Society received the Israeli government’s highest literary award for its complete Bible, and in 2000 the first Modern Hebrew New Testament concordance was published.
The Bible Society started as a foreign mission to Israel, but today it is maintained and led by local Messianic Jewish believers. It is a joy for us to keep up this ancient heritage, and we are grateful to our foreign predecessors who introduced the word of God to our nation. We intend to keep up the good work, no longer as a foreign entity, but as a local Israeli Bible Society serving the local Messianic congregations while still maintaining our international cooperation and brotherhood with other Bible Societies throughout the world.
With this ancient heritage behind us, we look to the future. Our vision is that the life-changing message of the Bible will shape the community of Israel and that the people of Israel will learn to know the Messiah of Israel. Let the people of Israel in the Land of Israel hear the good news of salvation through the Messiah of Israel.