Some 3 555 186 people in South Africa speak Southern Sotho as their home language and the majority of Southern Sotho speakers live in the Free State. It is also spoken in Lesotho.
Eugène Casalis and Samuel Rolland, two missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, started translating the Bible into Southern Sotho as early as 1836.
Important dates in the history of the Southern Sotho Bible:
| 1839 | First books of the Bible to be published – Gospels of Mark & John. Cape Town: Richert and Pike (for Paris Evangelical Missionary Society) Translated by Eugène Casalis and Samuel Rolland respectively. |
| 1855 | First New Testament Beerseba: Paris Evangelical Missionary Society Translated by Eugène Casalis and Samuel Rolland. |
| 1878 | First Bible By 1878 the complete Bible was translated by missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, including Emile Rolland, T Arbousset, DF Ellenberger, J Maitin, HM Dyke, A Mabile, L Cochet and L Duvoisin, and printed on the missionary presses at Morija and Masitisi. |
| 1881 | First Bible published in one volume. London: British and Foreign Bible Society Due to the Basotho wars the Bibles only reached the Basotho in 1883. |
| 1989 |
Latest translation of the Bible |