This project aims to publish a new and complete translation of the Holy Bible into the Fijian language (Bauan, the official dialect), the first translation since the original translations of 1864 and 1901 were published.

The original translation of the Bible, from both the English Authorised Version (Cross, Cargill, Hazelwood, and Langham) and the Greek (Hunt), was progressively worked on by missionaries William Cross, David Cargill, and John Hunt (1847) and completed by David Hazelwood (1864) and Frederick Langham (1901). It was they who created a Fijian alphabet and  translated and transcribed the Fijian language from being only a spoken language into a written language, for the first time in history. They were assisted by three Fijian translators: Noa Koroinavuqona, Ratu Ravisa (Elijah Varani), and Adi Litia Vatea.

This original translation was a major factor contributing to the wide acceptance of Christianity in Fiji, and conversion of its people from their traditional systems and ancient gods. 

The “New Fijian Translation” (NFT) has been translated on the basis of a number of english language versions of the Holy Scriptures, with no single English version being solely relied upon in a literal translation, in order to best capture the interpretation of the various English idioms, grammar and nuances of meaning in the Biblical text, into their Fijian equivalents.

No attempt was made to refer back to original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in so far as thousands of manuscripts (some 5,686 odd manuscripts) are in existence, and there is no concensus among scholars as to which of them provide a sufficient basis for any translation.

Thus the NFTB project fulfils the objective of pioneer missionary translator, Rev.John Hunt, to have a Fijian Bible that would express an idea “...exactly the way in which a native [Fijian] would express it, if he had the idea in his own mind”.

The new translation is the first to be completed by a project team comprising only indigenous Fijians, and the first Fijian translation to be made available on-line, and progressively in hardcopy at no cost.

The project team was assembled, commissioned and solely funded by the Ah Koy Christian Trust, and commenced work in July 2007. The translation into the Fijian language was carried out by the team led by Pastor Peni Seru and Pastor Samisoni Seru, the two Bauan pastors commissioned to complete this work.

Improvements made in the “New Fijian Translation Bible” (NFT) include:

* Exclusion the word “Kalougata”, which we contend has been mis-translated to convey the meaning of "blessing", from English to Fijian in the scriptures

* 100% consistent usage of the official Bauan dialect of the Fijian language, replacing the mixture of Tongan, Bauan, Lauan and other Fijian dialects used in the original and current 1901 translation

* Translation of the scriptures into contemporary Fijian language in order to facilitate easier reading and understanding, utilising newly available reference material containing a more complete body of Fijian vocabulary, including the new ‘Fijian Dictionary’

* Updating the translation of the scriptures on a as consistent as possible thought-for-thought basis, resolving numerous issues with the first translation that had inevitably arisen from the infancy of Fijian as a written language 

* Numerous other changes including:- 

full punctuation of the text which previously contained minimal punctuation in the original translation.

Quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament are italicised.

Poetic forms have been preserved and formated accordingly as much as possible.

Sub headlings as originally intended for the 1882 Revised Standard Version (RSV) but which were not deemed possible in the original translation, have now been included.