The Australian Bible Society has translated all 31,173 verses of the Bible into SMS text, believed to be a world first. The Bible is the world's most famous book and has already been translated into more languages than any other publication.

The first line of Genesis, for example, reads "In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth" in text-speak. All verses are available for free on the Internet, and users are able to send specific verses to friends and family via SMS.

Just one person translated the Bible in as little as four weeks. The Bible Society said: "We want to open it [the Bible] up for people of all ages, backgrounds and interests, and the SMS version is a logical extension of that."

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