Paschtu NT

We offer the New Testament in Pashto in high-quality print.

Pashto, in the narrower sense also known as Afghan, and also called Pashtu or (in Hindustani) Pashtun, is a language spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It belongs to the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family and is regarded as a direct descendant of Avestan (a view that is disputed). Because of a particular feature of Pashto—namely its relatively close relationship to Old Iranian languages, which has been preserved over the centuries—it is sometimes referred to as a “museum of Old Indo-Iranian vocabulary.” Alongside Dari (the official name of New Persian in Afghanistan), Pashto is an official language of Afghanistan. It is estimated that Pashto has around 50–60 million native speakers, primarily Pashtuns.

The Eastern Iranian languages, whose most prominent representative today is Pashto, differ from other Iranian languages through certain sound laws that explain their distinct development. Indian elements in Pashto, such as retroflex consonants, point to a clearly southeastern origin of the language. Thus, as a southeastern Iranian language, Pashto differs from the northeastern Iranian languages, such as Yaghnobi. Since Pashto is spoken exclusively by Pashtuns and has had no significant influence on neighboring languages, direct conclusions can be drawn about the origin and original homeland of the Pashtun people. Accordingly, the original homeland of the Pashtuns is thought to have been located in the southeastern part of the Iranian Plateau, i.e., south of the Hindu Kush. Pashto is therefore a language that can be spoken and read by many people and, for this reason, must not be missing from the offerings of Bible for the Nations.

Pashto New Testament
www.pashtozeray.org
© UBS 2016