Preface
to the World English Bible
by eBible.org
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What is the Holy
Bible?
The Holy Bible is a collection of 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
Anointed 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 official legal matters). The Holy Bible is
translated into many languages, and being translated into many more, so
that everyone may have an opportunity to hear the Good News about Jesus
Christ.*
(*) “Christ” means
“Anointed One”.
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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
and republication of God’s Word in many ways, such as in downloadable
files on the Internet, use of extensive quotations in books, etc. 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 whole World 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 copies of this translation.
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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.
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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 difficulties in translating dual-meaning
Scriptures such as the coronation psalms.
The World English Bible main edition translates God’s Proper Name in
the Old Testament as “Yahweh.” The Messianic Edition and the British
Edition of the World English Bible translates the same name as “LORD”
(all capital letters), or when used with “Lord” (mixed case, translated
from “Adonai”,) GOD. There are solid translational arguments for both
traditions.
Because World English Bible 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 some translations, including the
KJV. Erasmus admitted adding this text to his published Greek New
Testament, even though he could at first find 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,
significant variants are listed in footnotes. The reading that in our
prayerful judgment is best is in the main text. Overall, the World
English Bible doesn’t differ very much from 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.
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Does the World
English Bible include
the Apocrypha?
The World English Bible is an ecumenical project that includes books
included in Bibles in many denominations. The main 66 books of the Old
and New Testaments are recognized as Scripture by all true Christians.
There are also books considered to be part of, depending on which book
and who you ask, Deuterocanon, Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha.
The following books and parts of books are recognized as
Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Russian
Orthodox Churches: Tobit, Judith, Esther from the Greek Septuagint, The
Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (also called The Wisdom
ofJesusSonofSirach), Baruch, TheSongoftheThreeHoly Children, Susanna,
and Bel and the Dragon, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees. In this edition, The
Letter of Jeremiah is included as chapter 6 of Baruch. Three of those
books come from parts of Daniel found in the Greek Septuagint, but not
the Hebrew Old Testament: The Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna,
and Bel and the Dragon. These three are included in Daniel (Greek), in
context, as they make more sense that way.
The following books are recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the
Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches, but not the Roman Catholic Church:
1 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, and 3 Maccabees. Note that
1 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh are also in an appendix to the
Latin Vulgate Bible.
The Slavonic Bible includes 2 Esdras, but calls it 3 Esdras. This same
book is in the Appendix to the Latin Vulgate as 4 Esdras.
An appendix to the Greek Septuagint contains 4 Maccabees. It is
included for its historical value.
Among Christian denominations and among in- dividual Christians,
opinions vary widely on the Deuterocanon/ Apocrypha, as do the
collective names they give them. Many regard them as useful in gaining
additional understanding of the Old and New Testaments and the hand of
God in history, even if they don’t give them the same status as the 66
books of the Old and New Testaments. They are included here in support
of the churches and indi- viduals who read them and use them, as
separate from, but frequently used with, the core canon of the 66 books
of the Holy Bible.
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What are MT, TR,
and
NU?
In the footnotes, MT refers to the Greek Majority Text New Testament,
which is the authoritative basis for this translation. TR stands for
Textus Receptus, which is the Greek Text from which the King James
Version New Testament was translated. NU stands for the
Nestle-Aland/UBS critical text of the Greek New Testament, which is
used as a basis for some other Bible translations.
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More Information
For answers to frequently asked questions about the World English
Bible, please visit our web site at WorldEnglish.Bible
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