The Holy Bible—one of the most translated books in the world—is getting yet another translation, and this time, not everything will be put into words.
A version of the Holy Bible containing emojis—those icons used in electronic messages to convey expressions or show images—was recently made available in Apple iBooks.
The emoji Bible, which contains nearly 3,300 pages, can be downloaded on iTunes for $2.99. It is branded as "a great and fun way to share the Gospel," and interprets all 66 books of the King James Version using common Internet slang and contractions.
The author of the emoji Bible has yet to reveal his or her identify, and only goes by the smiley face wearing sunglasses emoji.
The person behind this innovation nevertheless believes that "as we communicate more and more in emoji, perhaps it will become the universal language, the most accessible of all."
"I thought if we fast forwarded 100 years in the future, an emoji Bible would exist," the author told The Guardian. "So I thought it'd be fun to try to make it."
"I wanted to make it similar to how you might text or tweet a Bible verse, by shrinking the total character count," the mysterious person behind the emoji Bible added.
The effort to translate the Bible using emojis started on Twitter, where the account @BibleEmoji was set up to share God's Word using modern technology.
"I started tweeting the verses out and it was sort of like a public proofread," the author shared.
Later on, the author developed a programme that linked 80 emojis with 200 corresponding words. Translating the King James Version into the emoji Bible took about six months.
The author said he is open to suggestions on how to improve his translation. He also would want to make the emoji Bible available for owners of other brands of mobile phones, but he has yet to resolve technical issues.
