WEB: Preface

WEB Index | Bibles Page Preface to the World English Bible What is the Holy Bible? The Holy Bible is a collection of 66 books and letters written by many people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. These books tell us how we can be saved from the evil of this world and gain eternal life that is truly worth living. Although the Holy Bible contains rules of conduct, it is not just a rule book. It reveals God’s heart– a Father’s heart, full of love and compassion. The Holy Bible tells you what you need to know and believe to be saved from sin and evil and how to live a life that is truly worth living, no matter what your current circumstances may be. The Holy Bible consists of two main sections: the Old Testament (including Psalms and Proverbs) and the New Testament (Matthew through Revelation). The Old Testament records God’s interaction with mankind before He sent His son to redeem us, while recording prophesy predicting that coming. The New Testament tells us of God’s Son and Annointed One, Jesus, and the wonderful salvation that He purchased for us. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the Holy Bible is living among us today, and He is happy to help you understand what He intended as you study His Word. Just ask Him, and He is more than happy to help you apply His message to your life. The Old Testament was originally written mostly in Hebrew. The New Testament was originally written mostly in the common street Greek (not the formal Greek used for of.cial legal matters). The Holy Bible is being translated into every living language in the World, so that everyone may have an opportunity to hear the Good News about Jesus Christ. Why was the World English Bible translated? There are already many good translations of the Holy Bible into contemporary English. Unfortunately, almost all of them are restricted by copyright and copyright holder policy. This restricts publication of God’s Word in many ways, such as in downloadable .les on the Internet. The World English Bible was commissioned by God in response to prayer about this subject. Because the World English Bible is in the Public Domain (not copyrighted), it can be freely copied, distributed, and redistributed without any payment of royalties. You don’t even have to ask permission to do so. You may publish the wholeWorld English Bible in book form, bind it in leather and sell it. You may incorporate it into your Bible study software. You may make and distribute audio recordings of it. You may broadcast it. All you have to do is maintain the integrity of God’s Word before God, and reserve the name “World English Bible” for faithful (unmodi.ed except for British/American spelling issues) copies of this translation. How was the World English Bible translated? The World English Bible is an update of the American Standard Version (ASV) of the Holy Bible, published in 1901. A custom computer program updated the archaic words and word forms to contemporary equivalents, and then a team of volunteers proofread and updated the grammar. The New Testament was updated to conform to the Majority Text reconstruction of the original Greek manuscripts, thus taking advantage of the superior access to manuscripts that we have now compared to when the original ASV was translated. What is different about the World English Bible? The style of the World English Bible, while fairly literally translated, is in informal, spoken English. The World English Bible is designed to sound good and be accurate when read aloud. It is not formal in its language, just as the original Greek of the New Testament was not formal. The WEB uses contractions rather freely. The World English Bible doesn’t capitalize pronouns pertaining to God. The original manuscripts made no such distinction. Hebrew has no such thing as upper and lower case, and the original Greek manuscripts were written in all upper case letters. Attempting to add in such a distinction raises some dif.culties in translating dual-meaning Scriptures such as the coronation psalms. The World English Bible uses “Yahweh” for God’s proper name in the Old Testament. This is our best reconstruction of how this most holy name was originally pronounced. Although different publishers are free to alter the typography, this particular edition is typeset in such a way as to de-emphasize the chapter and verse markers, and encourage reading the Bible as the poetry and prose it was written in. The chapter and verse markers are still there, of course, to allow you to find references in your Bible study. Because The World English Bible (WEB) uses the Majority Text as the basis for the New Testament, you may notice the following differences in comparing the WEB to other translations: The order of Matthew 23:13 and 14 is reversed in some translations. Luke 17:36 and Acts 15:34, which are not found in the majority of the Greek Manuscripts (and are relegated to footnotes in the WEB) may be included in some other translations. Romans 14:24-26 in the WEB may appear as Romans 16:25-27 in other translations. 1 John 5:7-8 contains an addition (“in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth”) in some translations, including the KJV. Erasmus admitted adding this text to his published Greek New Testament, even though he could at .rst .nd no Greek manuscript support for it, because he was being pressured by men to do so, and because he didn’t see any doctrinal harm in it. Lots of things not written by John in this letter are true, but we decline to add them to what the Holy Spirit inspired through John. With all of the above and some other places where lack of clarity in the original manuscripts has led to multiple possible readings, signi.cant variants are listed in footnotes. The reading that in our prayerful judgement is best is in the main text. Overall, the World English Bible isn’t very much different than several other good contemporary English translations of the Holy Bible. The message of Salvation through Jesus Christ is still the same. The point of this translation was not to be very different (except for legal status), but to update the ASV for readability while retaining or improving the accuracy of that well-respected translation and retaining the public domain status of the ASV. Some translations capitalize pronouns pertaining to God. Some do not. Hebrew has no such thing as upper and lower case, and the original Greek manuscripts were written all in one case, anyway. This is purely a matter of English style. The KJV capitalized these pronouns because English usage at the time demanded capitalization of pronouns referring to a king, and God is certainly the greatest King. In modern English, we don’t capitalize pronouns pertaining to kings and presidents. The ASV, upon which this translation was originally based, didn’t capitalize these pronouns, so changing that would have potentially introduced errors. One particularly difficult place to decide on capitalization is in the coronation psalms, which were written originally for an earthly king, but later sung in praise to the King of Kings. Although there are good arguments both ways, we left the capitalization as the ASV did it. For answers to frequently asked questions about the World English Bible, please visit webfaq.htm on the World English Bible site. Footnotes In this edition, the only footnotes are the translators’ footnotes, which offer clari.cation of shades of meanings of words and give equivalent weights, measures, and monetary values. Sometimes alternate readings are given where there ismore than one way to legitimately translate a passage or where signi.cant groups of manuscripts differ. In particular, the abbreviation “NU” is used to denote alternate readings from the critical text due primarily to the work of Nestle and Aland and published by the United Bible Societies. “TR” is used to denote alternate readings from the Textus Receptus, which is the basis of the King James Version New Testament. This translation is based on the Greek Majority Text as the most authoritative reading of the New Testament we could find Significant alternate readings from the other two widely respected critical texts are given in the footnotes. A Note to Publishers Like the King James Version, this translation of the Holy Bible is in the Public Domain. You are free to publish editions of the World English Bible without even having to ask anyone for permission. You may do so for free or for profit. You may download the text of the World English Bible in various formats from the World English Bible site and typeset them to taste. Like the KJV, you may publish a study Bible with your own additional helps, and copyright those helps. The translators’ footnotes, preface, and glossary that come with the World English Bible are also in the Public Domain, and may be published by anyone. Although U. S. law allows creation of derivative works from a Public Domain document (but see Revelation 22:18-19), we ask that you not use the name “World English Bible” to describe any revision or change to the text. This is to avoid confusion, and not to restrict your freedom to Publish God’s Word in whatever way He leads you to. “World English Bible” is a trademark of Rainbow Missions, Inc., and you have permission to use it to describe the text of the World English Bible as published by Rainbow Missions, Inc. Please check the World English Bible site for the completion status of the Old Testament before committing it to print. As of this date (5 August 2002), the World English Bible Old Testament is still being actively edited for clarity and accuracy, although the drafts are posted on the Internet. In addition, any well-justi.ed edits are still being made to the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. If you have any questions about the World English Bible and publication issues, please see webfaq.htm on the World English Bible site, and if your questions are not answered there, please email your questions to editors@ebible.org. Acknowledgements First and foremost, we thank God Almighty, who through the Holy Spirit inspired the Holy Bible and has caused it to be preserved and published widely through his people. In addition, we acknowledge the original writers of the books of the Bible, the scribes, and the translators who diligently labored over the centuries to bring the Holy Bible to you in a language you understand. We also thank all of the many people who contributed to this volunteer translation effort. May God bless you and reward you greatly for your faithfulness and obedience to Him.

 Back to top | WEB Index | Bible Page
The World English Bible is in the Public Domain. You may not copyright it, but you are free to use, sell, distribute, or copy it freely.

This version of World English Bible (WEB) hosted by TheTruthTree.com. The original WEB is available online at www.ebible.org.

Sponsored by: