This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 47.220.46.75 (talk) at 18:36, 9 December 2022 (→History: rewrite based on Johnson's accounts). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 18:36, 9 December 2022 by 47.220.46.75 (talk) (→History: rewrite based on Johnson's accounts)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| World English Bible | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full name | World English Bible |
| Abbreviation | WEB |
| Complete Bible published | first draft in 1997, completed in 2020 |
| Authorship | Michael Paul Johnson (editor-in-chief and main translator) |
| Derived from | American Standard Version 1901 |
| Textual basis | NT: Byzantine Majority Text by Robinson and Pierpont 1991. OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (with some Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls influence). |
| Translation type | Formal equivalence |
| Publisher | eBible.org |
| Copyright | Public domain (copyright waived) |
| Genesis 1:1–3 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. | |
The World English Bible (WEB) is an English translation of the Bible freely shared online. The translation work began in 1994 and was deemed complete in 2020. Created by volunteers with oversight by Michael Paul Johnson, the WEB is an updated revision of the American Standard Version from 1901.
History
In 1994, Michael Paul Johnson began work on a project of his own called "God's Living Word", which was a translation of the Gospel of John and the letters of John. He started to study Greek and Hebrew and use scholarly aid in his efforts. Eventually, he put a draft copy on Usenet and on a mailing list, receiving some suggestions and incorporating them. Estimating he would be 150 years old by the time it was complete, Johnson prayed for guidance. The answer was to use the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901 because it is regarded as an accurate and reliable translation that is fully in the public domain.
Johnson's main goal was to modernize the language of ASV, and he made custom computer programs to organize the process. This resulted in an initial draft of 1997 that "was not quite modern English, in that it still lacked quotation marks and still had some word ordering that sounded more like Elizabethan English or maybe Yoda than modern English." This draft was soon named World English Bible (WEB), since Johnson intended it for any English speaker, and the acronym indicates that the Web is the means of distribution.
Over the years, a number of volunteers assisted Johnson. The entire translation effort was deemed complete in 2020, and the only subsequent changes have been fixing a few typos.
Features
The World English Bible claims to be one of the few English-language Bibles there are in the public domain in modern English and translated to be understood by most English-speakers worldwide. Is the only one that is free culture in its methodology and translation philosophy that has the deuterocanonical/ apocryphal books.
The World English Bible project was started to produce a modern English Bible version that is not copyrighted, does not use archaic English (such as the KJV), and is not translated into Basic English (such as the Bible in Basic English). The World English Bible follows the American Standard Version's decision to transliterate the Tetragrammaton, but uses "Yahweh" instead of "Jehovah" throughout the Old Testament. The British, and Messianic editions as well as the Apocryphal books and New Testament use the traditional forms (e.g., the LORD).
The translation also includes the following Apocryphal books (in the following order):
- Tobit
- Judith
- Esther (Greek) (additions found in the LXX namely Esther 10:4 – 16:24)
- Wisdom (also known as the Wisdom of Solomon)
- Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach)
- Baruch (Letter of Jeremiah as Baruch 6)
- I Maccabees
- II Maccabees
- 1 Esdras
- Prayer of Manasses
- Psalm 151
- III Maccabees
- IV Maccabees
- 2 Esdras
- Daniel (Greek) (Prayer of Azarias as Daniel 3:24–97 in the LXX / Susanna as Daniel 13 in the LXX / Bel and the Dragon as Daniel 14 in the LXX)
Translation philosophy
The work is based on the 1901 American Standard Version English translation, the Greek Majority Text, and the Hebrew Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia with some minor adjustments made because of alternate readings found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint. These alternate readings are usually ignored or restricted to the footnotes. The translation process included seven phases of editing and proofreading for each book. An initial automated pass updated approximately 1,000 archaic words, phrases and grammatical constructs. The first manual pass added quotation marks (the ASV had none) and other punctuation and compared the translation to the Greek and Hebrew texts in areas where significant textual variants or meanings were unclear.
Licensing
All of the text of the World English Bible is dedicated into the public domain. The ebible.org project maintains a trademark on the phrase "World English Bible" and forbids any derivative work that substantially alters the text from using the name "World English Bible" to describe it. The reasons given were that they felt copyright was an ineffective way of protecting the text's integrity and the fact that the Creative Commons licenses did not exist at the time the project began and thus, since the decision to place the text in the public domain had already been made, "it is way too late to change that decision" after the fact.
Critical reception
The Provident Planning web site uses the World English Bible because it is free of copyright restrictions and because the author considers it to be a good translation.
The Bible Megasite review of the World English Bible says it is a good revision of the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV) into contemporary English, which also corrects some textual issues with the ASV.
The World English Bible is widely published in digital formats by a variety of publishers.
See also
- Literal English Version – A derivative of the WEB
- New American Standard Bible
- Open English Bible – A primarily digitally published translation
- Modern Literal Version – A primarily digitally published translation
- New English Translation – A primarily digitally published translation
References
- ^ "History of the World English Bible". ebible.org. November 2021.
- ^ "When will the World English Bible be completed?". ebible.org. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- ^ "About eBible.org". Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- "World English Bible homepage".
- "Is the WEB a one-man translation?". ebible.org.
- "World English Bible with Deuterocanon". ebible.org. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- "The World English Bible (WEB) FAQ". ebible.org. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- Corey. "Why I use the World English Bible (WEB) Version". Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- David. "David's Review of the World English Bible". Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- Michael Paul Johnson. "World English Bible". Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- Olive Tree Bible Software. "World English Bible (WEB), Ecumenical". Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- Li Liangpu. "World English Bible WEB Audio Holy Scriptures". iTunes. Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
External links
- Official website
- Works by or about World English Bible at the Internet Archive
- Works by World English Bible at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
