WEB (World English Bible)

P

philologos Nov 14, 2003

Here is an interesting enterprise. WEB: World English Bible. The developers of this translation want to create a public domain translation and have opted to base it on the American Standard Version and the Textus Receptus.This is an interesting combination. The orignal ASV (and the English RV) Old Testament translations were regarded very highly as translations but many evangelicals rejected the version because of the New Testament translation. The NT introduced thousands of textual variations, mostly based on the Codex Vaticanus which many regard as the most reliable NT manuscript and many others regard as the least reliable of the NT manuscripts.The WEB is attempting to create a translation which could be a useful tool. First sight indicates a conservative approach to translation philosophy but the scholarly accuracy of the ASV seems to be shining through.The website is a little confusing in that it says the OT is not complete, but a complete version is available in several formats. I am going to use it for reference for a while and will report my reactions.Has anyone else seen enough of it to comment?

sermonindex Nov 14, 2003

One of the intresting things I think is that its public domain. "What we are doing is liberating at least one Modern English translation of the Holy Bible from all copyright restrictions."This is something I always struggled with is that there is copyright on so many versions of the bible. That's one reason why I like using the KJV, because its in public domain and can be used freely.

L

lwpray Nov 14, 2003

Thank you, Ron, for a valuable hint.I was reading my ASV as usual this morning and just longed for something fully new. I have sort of worn out our new Swedish version also.New ways of expressing, or just rephrasing, lifts the study and contemplation a great deal.

I

InTheLight Nov 14, 2003

New ways of expressing, or just rephrasing, lifts the study and contemplation a great deal.Absolutely! I study primarily from the NASB and I often like to repeatedly read passages that I am studying. However, after a while of this in a single translation I can sometimes lose focus. To avoid this, once I am saturated with the passage in the NASB, I like to read several other translations and paraphrases on the passage. This keeps things fresh and often provides new insights. BTW, for those of you who use E-sword, a complete version (OT & NT) of the World English Bible is one of the translations freely provided for use with that aplication. E-SwordIn Christ,Ron