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The World English Bible (WEB) FAQ

Last updated: 16 February 2006
Last change: Updated schedule comments, added a question,
plus assorted minor edits.

The World English Bible (WEB) FAQ 
This Frequently Asked Questions document covers the following about the World English Bible (WEB): 
Why create yet another English translation of the Holy Bible? 
Why is the copyright such a big deal? 
Isn’t it dangerous not to copyright the WEB? 
What is the World English Bible? 
Who is behind the WEB Revision work? 
Is the WEB a one-man translation?
What are your qualifications to do translation work? 
What is the WEB Translation Philosophy? 
Is the World English Bible perfect?
Is the World English Bible reliable?
What original language texts are you using? 
How does the WEB compare to other translations? 
What about the King James Only movement? 
What makes you think that you can compete with multi-million dollar publishers? 
What kind of editing help do you want? 
How do you publish draft portions of the WEB? 
How do I join the WEB mailing list? 
How do I get off of the WEB mailing list? 
How do I change my address on the WEB mailing list? 
Is anyone else working on a public domain, Modern English translation? 
When will the WEB be completed? 
Can I get a printed copy of the WEB?
Why the name WEB? 
Will any major publishers be interested in the WEB? 
Why do you use “Yahweh” for God’s name in the Old Testament? 
Why don’t you capitalize pronouns referring to God?
Why do you use contractions?
Where can I get the WEB? 
How can I help support the WEB work?
Who Maintains this FAQ? 


Why create yet another English translation of the Holy Bible? 
That is a good question. There are many good English translations of the Holy Bible. Unfortunately, all of them are either (1) archaic (like the KJV and ASV of 1901), or (2) covered by copyright restrictions that prevent unrestricted free posting on the internet or other media (like the NIV and NASB). The Bible in Basic English (BBE) was in the Public Domain in the USA (but not all countries) for a while, but its copyrighted status was restored by GATT. (The BBE used a rather restricted subset of English, anyway, limiting its accuracy and readability.) In other words, there is NO OTHER complete translation of the Holy Bible in normal Modern English that can be freely copied (except for some limited “fair use” or in the case of the NET Bible, restrictions regarding personal use only, etc.) without written permission from the publisher and (usually) payment of royalties. This is the vacuum that the World English Bible is filling. 
 
Why is the copyright such a big deal? 

The copyright laws of most nations and the international treaties that 
support them are a mixed blessing. By granting authors and translators 
a legal monopoly (for a limited, but very long, time) on the right of 
copying and “first sale” of their works, the law makers have made 
writing and translating very profitable for some people whose works 
are in great demand. This has, no doubt, been a factor in the creation 
of many of the good Modern English translations of the Holy Bible that 
we now enjoy. The problem with this system, with respect to the Holy 
Bible, is that it has had the effect of limiting distribution of God’s 
Word in modern languages. For example, I cannot legally post copies of 
the entire New International Version of the Holy Bible on my web site 
in a downloadable, searchable, and readily copyable format without the 
permission of the International Bible Society and Zondervan (copyright 
owner and publisher). Zondervan won’t grant such permission unless 
they get a significant royalty (they quoted me $10,000 + $10/copy 
distributed) and unless I convince them that my Bible search software 
is “good enough” for them. Needless to say, the Bible search software 
that I am writing with the intention of distributing as donorware will 
not come with the NIV. The problem of copyright protection of Modern 
English translations of the Holy Bible is not just significant on the 
Internet and various electronic information services. It also affects 
people who want to quote significant portions of Scripture in books, 
audio tapes, and other media. This drives up the price of preaching 
the Gospel. Basic economics tells us that this is not a good thing 
when our goal is to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). 
For example, the “free” Bibles that the Gideons place cost more if 
they use a modern version, like Thomas-Nelson’s New King James 
Version, than if they use the (more difficult to read) King James 
Version. Naturally, I’m not suggesting that we abolish the copyright 
law or that existing Modern English translations be immediately 
released to the Public Domain. I understand the way that the profits 
from the sales of the NIV, for example, help fund other language 
translations at the International Bible Society (as well as helping to 
enrich some folks at Zondervan). I also understand that the business 
of Bible sales has helped establish a good supply of Bibles in many 
parts of the world, in a variety of formats, sizes, styles, and 
colors. What we are doing is liberating at least one Modern English 
translation of the Holy Bible from all copyright restrictions -- a 
translation that is trustworthy, accurate, and useful for evangelism 
and discipleship. Another concern where copyright restrictions come 
into play is in translation and creating derivative works. For 
example, the copyright notice of the NASB expressly forbids making 
translations or derivative works based on the NASB without getting 
permission from the Lockman Foundation. I don’t know if they would 
make this easy or hard, expensive or cheap, but I do know that there 
will be no need to even ask when using the WEB. Isn’t it dangerous not 
to copyright the WEB? No. Copyright protection is intended to protect 
the income of the copyright holder’s sales of a work, but we are 
planning to GIVE AWAY the right to make copies of this version of the 
Holy Bible to anyone who wants it, so we have nothing to lose that 
way. There is some argument for copyrighting a Bible translation just 
to retain some legal control against some evil, cultic revision of a 
translation. The God’s Living Word translations of John’s Gospel and 
John’s letters are copyrighted only for this reason, for example, even 
though blanket permission to make unlimited copies of that translation 
is published with them. This legal leverage is so much weaker than 
God’s protection of His own Word that it is of questionable value. 
(See Revelation 22:18-19.) One other major concern is that somebody 
might later claim a copyright on the WEB and remove it from the Public 
Domain. Because there is a timely and public declaration of the Public 
Domain status of the WEB by those who are working on it, that would 
not work, and they would not be able to defend such a bogus copyright 
claim. With a Public Domain work, there is a hazard of confusion if 
many people start revising it or making derivative works from it and 
call it the same thing. For that reason, the name “World English 
Bible” is a trademark that may only be used to identify the World 
English Bible as published by Rainbow Missions, Inc., and faithful 
copies of that work. In addition, official distributions of the World 
English Bible are digitally signed to provide a tamper-evident seal.
 
What is the World English Bible? 

The World English Bible is an update of the American Standard Version 
of 1901, which is in the Public Domain. It has been edited to conform 
to the Greek Majority Text New Testament. This revision is also in the 
Public Domain, which sets it apart from other revisions of the 
American Standard Version, like the New American Standard Bible and 
the Revised Standard Version. The first pass of the translation, which 
has already been done, was to convert about 1,000 archaic words and 
word forms to modern equivalents using a custom computer program. The 
second through seventh phases consist of manual editing and 
proofreading. The initial manual pass is to add quotation marks (the 
ASV of 1901 had none), update other punctuation, update usage, and 
spot check the translation against the original languages in places 
where the meaning is unclear or significant textual variants exist. 
The subsequent passes are to review of the results of the previous 
pass. In each pass, volunteers read the current draft, looking for 
typos, unclear passages, etc., then report back to the senior editor, 
who checks the suggestions and merges the best suggestions into the 
master draft. As this is going on, the draft at the WEB web page is 
updated. 
 
Who is behind the WEB Revision work? 

Rainbow Missions, Inc., a Colorado nonprofit corporation -- and many 
volunteers who are born again and seeking to daily follow the leading 
of the Holy Spirit. If the Lord so moves you, tax-deductible financial 
gifts to help pay for WEB publishing and other costs associated with 
this project  may be made to: 

Rainbow Missions, Inc. 
PO Box 275
Mesa CO 81643-0275
USA 

Rainbow Missions gets its name from the rainbow that is a sign of the 
covenant between God and Noah, the rainbow around God’s throne, and 
the rainbow that suddenly appeared in the clear blue sky right after I 
asked God what to name this ministry.
 
Is the WEB a one-man translation?

Many people have been involved in the production and editing of the 
World English Bible from a variety of backgrounds. Because this is a 
revision of the American Standard Version of the Revised Bible, we 
start with the over 50 Evangelical scholars who worked on that 
project. They, in turn, relied on the work of those who had gone 
before them. We also rely on the work of many scholars who have found, 
compiled, combined, and published the excellent and highly accurate 
Hebrew and Greek texts from which we work. We also rely on the 
excellent lexicons of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek that are available to 
us. In addition to these excellent references that represent literally 
hundreds of years of combined labor by many committed Christian men 
and women, we have access to the United Bible Society handbooks on 
Bible translation and a large number of other English translations to 
compare and consult. Among the volunteers who have contributed to this 
project, we have people who attend various churches, including 
Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, non-denominational, and many more. 
This broad representation helps guard against introducing sectarian 
bias into the work. In addition, the novel technique of publishing 
draft copies of the World English Bible on the Internet provides 
additional protection against bias, because all serious comments are 
carefully considered and the wording compared to the original 
language. Although we don’t demand credentials from people who comment 
on the translation by email, we do validate their comments before 
deciding what to do with them. We do have one senior editor who is 
responsible for decisions regarding the text, but he is also 
accountable to several other Christians. Everyone who has authority to 
decide on the wording in the World English Bible believes in the 
inspiration by the Holy Spirit of the text as recorded by the original 
authors. In addition, we also believe that the Holy Spirit is still 
active in preserving the text and helps us in our work to the extent 
that we let Him.
 
What are your qualifications to do translation work? 

Standing on the shoulders of giants - those mighty men of God who 
provided the critically edited original language texts, translated 
other English versions (especially the ASV), wrote the great 
translation guides available from the American Bible Society, and the 
writers of the Greek & Hebrew study materials I use - is the most 
obvious. Others include having studied the Bible for years, studying 
several languages, and earning a Master’s degree. None of those matter 
as much as the next reason. God called me to do this, and I willingly 
answered His call. God would not call me to do something without 
enabling me to do so. Without God’s call, I would drop this project 
like a hot rock. Although many people contribute suggestions and typo 
reports, they are all checked before editing the master copy of the 
World English Bible. 
 
What is the WEB Translation Philosophy? 

The WEB must 

be done with prayer -- specifically prayer for inspiration by the Holy 
Spirit. 

be accurate and reliable (Revelation 22:18-19). 

be understandable to the majority of the world’s English-speaking 
population (and therefore should avoid locale-specific usage). 

be kept in the Public Domain (and therefore be done by volunteers). 

be made available in a short time, because we don’t know the exact time of our Lord’s return. 

preserve the essential character of the original 1901 publication. 

use language that is not faddish, but likely to retain its meaning for 
some time. 

render God’s proper Name in the Old Testament as “Yahweh.” 

resolve unclear passages by referring to the original Hebrew and Greek. 

be done with utmost respect for God and His Word. 

be done by Christians from a variety of denominations and backgrounds. 

retain the ASV 1901’s pronoun capitalization rules (lower case “he” referring to God). 

retain (in most cases) the ASV 1901’s use of “he” when that word might 
mean (“he and/or she”). 

restrict footnotes to those which clarify the translation or provide 
significant alternate readings

Bible translation (as with any natural language translation) is a 
balancing act, where the translators seek to preserve the following: 

The meaning of each thought or sentence. 
The meanings of individual words in their context. 
The shades of meaning implied by word forms, tense, etc. 
The impact and tone of each passage. 
The style of the original authors who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. 
Faithfulness to the target language (English, in this case). 

Note that some of the above goals are at odds with one another, like 
preservation of the original style vs. faithfulness to the target 
language, and expressing the last bit of the shades of meaning vs. 
preserving the impact. Still, it is possible to retain a good balance. 
Different balance points are chosen by different translation 
committees. Indeed, many translations can be characterized by the 
weight the translators gave to each of the above items. For example, 
The Amplified Bible excels at getting the meaning across, but falls 
down hard on impact, style preservation, and faithfulness to the 
target language. The New Living Translation excels at preserving the 
meanings of entire thoughts, impact, and faithfulness to the target 
language, but loses some of the style and shades of meaning. The New 
International Version excels at most of the above, but loses some 
elements of style and some of the subtleties of wording. The World 
English Bible attempts to balance all of the above with a fairly 
literal translation. Some people like to use the terms “formal 
equivalent” and “dynamic equivalent.” Neither of these exactly 
describe what we are doing, since we have borrowed ideas from both, 
but I suppose that we are closer to formal equivalence than dynamic 
equivalence. 
 
Is the World English Bible Perfect?

We pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and I believe He 
supplies it. However, our ability to receive that great gift is 
imperfect. We do not claim that the translation is perfect, and we 
certainly don't believe it to be more reliable than the original 
language texts we are translating from. We do ask you to pray for us, 
that God would help us to find whatever needs to be corrected, and 
that we would be wise in filtering through suggested changes to 
discern what is from God and what is not.

Is the World English Bible Reliable?

Yes. In spite of its imperfections and lack of grammatical polish in 
some sections that have not been completed, yet, none of those things 
detract from or confuse the basic message of the Good News about Jesus 
Christ. The World English Bible in its current form is still better 
than the American Standard Version that we started with, and no worse 
than the ASV in any section. The ASV was and is considered to be a 
very reliable and honest translation of the Holy Bible. None of the 
language update edits we do change the meaning in any significant way, 
and none of the edits to conform to the Greek Majority Text have any 
significant impact on basic doctrine. Our Lord commanded that we who 
believe in him teach others what he taught us. Whatever our Lord 
commands us is possible, even if it means walking on water. God 
watches over his word to perform it. Bible translation is one 
important aspect of obeying the Great Commission. Therefore, you can 
rely on God’s Word, because God ’s message to us is so clear that it 
doesn’t rely on the little subtleties of any one language. It is 
translatable, and the Holy Spirit helps those whom he has called to 
translate the Holy Bible.

What original language texts are you using? 

Since this is primarily an update of the 1901 edition, the choices 
made by the original 50 or so Evangelical scholars that made this 
translation hold unless reference is made to the original languages to 
help with places where the Elizabethan English is not clear, or where 
major textual variants are known to exist. In this case, we are using 
the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, also called The Stuttgart Bible, 
in the Old Testament, and the Byzantine Majority Text as published for 
use with The Online Bible in the New Testament (M-Text). This choice 
of Greek text is very close to what the KJV translators used, but does 
take advantage of some more recently discovered manuscripts. Although 
there are good scholarly arguments both for and against using the 
Byzantine Majority Text over the “Alexandrian” text based on the 
dating and critical editing work of Nestle and Aland and published by 
the United Bible Societies (UBS), we find the following to be 
compelling reasons: The UBS text has a lot of “dropout” errors 
relative to the M-Text. Diligent scribes with a respect for God’s Word 
are more likely to miss copying something (i.e. by skipping a line, 
etc.) than to make up a line to add in. Different scribes copying the 
same passage aren’t all likely to make the same mistakes at the same 
places, even though some mistakes are likely to be copied over many 
times. When a scribe had a choice of manuscripts to copy, he would 
normally copy the one that he trusted the most, thus causing the most 
trusted text to be copied more often. The UBS text relies heavily on 
the dating of the media upon which the text was written, but those 
texts that are used more and trusted more would both be copied more 
often and worn out from use sooner. The UBS text is heavily weighted 
to a small number of manuscripts relative to those available to us, 
and relies heavily on one manuscript that was pulled from a trash can 
at a monastery. The Holy Spirit takes an active interest in preserving 
what He has inspired. In those few sections where the M-Text and UBS 
text differ significantly, I have taken my question of textual choice 
directly to God, and God chose to answer me by confirming in several 
different ways that reading which the M-Text rendered. The main 
passage in question is in Mark 16, but there are others, too. While I 
certainly don’t claim to be infallible, I do know when to say, “Yes, 
Sir” and follow the direction I see the Lord pointing me in. 
 
How does the WEB compare to other translations? 

The WEB is different enough to avoid copyright infringement, but 
similar enough to avoid incurring the wrath of God. By “different 
enough,” I mean that the wording is about as different from any one 
Modern English translation as the current translations differ from 
each other. By “similar enough,” I mean that the meaning is preserved 
and that the Gospel still cuts to the very soul. It is most similar to 
the ASV of 1901, of course, but I suppose that similarities will be 
found with other translations. The WEB doesn’t capitalize pronouns 
pertaining to God. This is similar to the NRSV and NIV, and the same 
as the original ASV of 1901. Note that this is an English style 
decision, because Hebrew has no such thing as upper and lower case, 
and the oldest Greek manuscripts were all upper case. I kind of prefer 
the approach of the KJV, NKJV, and NASB of capitalizing these 
pronouns, because I write that way most of the time and because it is 
a way of offering greater honor to God. I admit that it is kind of a 
throw-back to the Olde English practice of capitalizing pronouns 
referring to the king. This is archaic, because we don’t capitalize 
pronouns that refer to our president. It is also true that chosing to 
capitalize pronouns relating to God causes some difficulties in 
translating the coronation psalms, where the psalm was initially 
written for the coronation of an earthly king, but which also can 
equally well be sung or recited to the praise of the King of Kings. 
Capitalizing pronouns relating to God also makes for some strange 
reading where people were addressing Jesus with anything but respect. 
In any case, in the presence of good arguments both ways, we have 
decided to leave these as they were in the ASV 1901 (which also gives 
us fewer opportunities to make mistakes). The WEB, like the ASV of 
1901, breaks the KJV tradition by printing God’s proper Name in the 
Old Testament with a spelling closest to what we think it was 
pronounced like, instead of rendering that Name as “LORD” or “GOD” 
(with all caps or small caps). The current scholarly consensus has 
shifted from spelling this Name as “Jehovah” to spelling it as 
“Yahweh.” There are a couple of other English translations that use 
“Yahweh,” so this is not new, per se, but it does set it off a little 
from other translations. Because 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 may read 
differently in some translations.
 
What about the King James Only movement? 

May God open their eyes and give them a sound understanding. 

If you prefer the King James Version of the Holy Bible, then, by all 
means, read it and do what it teaches. I think that the KJV was a 
wonderful Contemporary English translation of the Holy Bible when it 
came out. It has been mightily used by God and has had (and continues 
to have) a profoundly good impact. Unfortunately, the evolution of the 
English language continually erodes its value as time goes on. It is 
now outsold by the excellent New International Version, for many good 
reasons. I guess that there are a few people that seem to believe that 
the KJV is more accurate than the original Hebrew and Greek of the 
Holy Bible, and that all the other versions are tainted with heresy 
and conspiracy. I’ve read some of their literature. I found it to be 
some of the most non-Christian and illogical literature that I have 
endured, thus further proving the claim that the KJV is the only valid 
Bible to be wrong, at least in my mind. I guess I’ve now put myself on 
record as being a heretic in their eyes, but I must follow God, rather 
than men. 
 
What makes you think that you can compete with multi-million dollar publishers? 

Indeed, throwing another Modern English translation into the “market” 
to “compete” with solid translations like the NIV and publishing 
giants like Zondervan sounds as silly. It sounds like that, perhaps, 
until you consider that the primary target for the WEB is royalty-free 
distribution of the Holy Bible in unlimited copies made by many people 
using many computers, tape recorders, photocopiers, and presses all 
over the world. This is a “market” that the “giants” have excluded 
themselves from. Indeed, if they change that policy (don’t hold your 
breath waiting for them to), we win, anyway. If we win this area, that 
is enough to justify this effort. If we do an excellent job, the WEB 
might possibly start competing in more conventional areas (like 
printed Bibles in bookstores), but not because of any significant 
effort or marketing on our part. After all, the bookstores have lots 
of Bibles in Modern English, already. Once you look at the whole 
picture of what is going on, the multi-million dollar publishers and 
Bible translators really don’t have much of an effect on us, nor do we 
have much of an effect on them. The result of the combined efforts of 
both is simply more complete availability of the Holy Bible in Modern 
English. Of course, it does take considerable effort to pull off a 
decent Bible translation -- even a language update like the WEB. 
Fortunately, there are lots of people willing to volunteer some time 
to help with this cause, and the Internet helps bring those people 
together. The real bottom line, though, is that this is God’s project, 
and He is fully capable of providing everything that we need to 
accomplish His goals. 
 
What kind of editing help do you want? 

Specifically, we need people who will read drafts of WEB chapters 
carefully, checking the following things, and email suggestions for 
improvements in the following areas: 

Typos & spelling errors. 

Punctuation errors. 

Grammar & usage errors. 

Unclear wording or wording that may be misunderstood. 

Wording that varies in meaning from other good Bible translations 
(realizing that some will vary due to “textual variants” in the 
underlying original languages). 

Wording that may inadvertently be “too close” to any copyrighted 
Modern English translation for too many verses in a row (thus risking 
charges of copyright infringement). 

Questions that come up with respect to specific portions of the 
translation. 

Inconsistencies in style, usage, or translation. 

Note that all suggestions made in line with the above mentioned 
translation philosophy will be seriously considered. There is no 
guarantee, of course, that any suggestion will result in a change, 
especially in those areas that involve judgment calls, because we are 
likely to get conflicting suggestions for the same passage. If in 
doubt, suggest or ask, anyway. We want to eradicate as many of the 
above distractions as possible, so that the meaning and message of the 
Holy Bible come through clearly. 
 
How do you publish draft portions of the WEB? 

Draft portions of the WEB are published in the WEB mailing list and at 
http://ebible.org/web/, and in the unmoderated Usenet news group 
alt.bible and, for the World English Bible: Messianic Edition, 
alt.messianic. Once the WEB translation is done, we plan to continue 
it as a daily Bible reading list. 
 
How do I join the WEB mailing list? 

There are actually three mailing lists that can properly be called the WEB mailing list:

bible
Daily World English Bible readings and some announcements
hnv
Daily HNV readings and some announcements
webnews
News about status of World English Bible translation and publication.

Visit http://ebible.org/subscribe.htm and follow the instructions there.

You cannot join the WEB mailing list if your email address is not 
valid, or if you have spam filters in place that prevent mailing list 
messages from the automated mailing list manager. To prevent others 
from spamming you with our list, all mailing list subscriptions 
require confirmation.

Expect somewhere around 4 chapters of the Holy Bible per day, along 
with related material (like this FAQ, the glossary, and 
announcements). 
 
How do I get off of the WEB mailing list? 

Visit http://ebible.org/subscribe.htm and follow the instructions there.
 
How do I change my address on the WEB mailing list? 

Just unsubscribe from the old address and subscribe from the new 
address, using the instructions, above. 
 
Is anyone else working on a public domain, Modern English translation? 

Yes. Dr. Maurice Robinson is overseeing another project to revise the 
ASV into what he is calling the Modern American Standard Version 
(MASV). That project is not on quite as ambitious schedule, but it 
should be worth looking at when it is done. There are now some other 
works, too, like the Updated King James Version at 
http://www.geocities.com/updatedkjv/. People often ask if we are aware 
of the New English Translation, and we are, but it is not Public 
Domain. They do allow free downloads for personal use, though, and 
there is a lot of scholarly work that went into that translation. In 
particular, the translation and study notes associated with that 
translation make it an excellent resource for Bible study.
 
When will the WEB be completed? 

The current status of completion of the World English Bible by book is 
at http://eBible.org/web/. Other than that, we are not yet certain 
enough of our completion date to publish it.
 
Can I get a printed copy of the WEB?

You can get a bound, printed copy of of the New Testament plus Psalms 
and Proverbs of the World English Bible by ordering it on line at 
http://www.messianicbook.net/Scriptures.htm or by ordering it from a 
book store. Order ISBN 0-9703344-2-7 (paperback), ISBN 0-9703344-5-1 
(hardback), or ISBN 0-9703344-7-8 (case laminate cover). 

Why the name WEB? 

World: because God’s Word is to the whole world, and this translation 
is to be read by English-speaking people all over the world. 

English: a language spoken by about 10% of the people in the world. 

Bible: God’s Holy Book. 

WEB: This translation of the Holy Bible travels by way of the World-
Wide Web, aided by its copyright-free status. 
 
Will any major publishers be interested in the WEB? 

Several publishers that don’t already own rights to another modern 
English translation of the Holy Bible are likely to be interested. Ask 
them.
 
Why do you use “Yahweh” for God’s name in the Old Testament? 

“Yahweh” is the most probable best transliteration of this most holy 
proper name from the Hebrew consonants YOD HE WAW HE, or YHWH. This 
holy name is sometimes rendered “Jehovah” based on the mixture of the 
vowels for “Adonai” (Lord) with the consonants “YHWH” as it is written 
in some later Hebrew manuscripts. The original Hebrew manuscripts had 
no vowels, and we believe that the vowels for “adonai” were added to 
reflect the tradition of avoiding pronouncing God’s name, and saying 
“Lord” instead, and was not an indication of how the name should be 
pronounced by those so bold as to actually utter God’s name. This is a 
break from the tradition of the KJV and others that use “LORD” or 
“GOD” with all caps or small caps to translate “YHWH”, and use “Lord” 
(normal mixed case) to translate “Adonai” and “God” (normal mixed 
case) to translate “Elohim.” That tradition gets really confusing in 
some places, especially since “Yahweh” is used in conjunction with 
“Lord” and “God” in many places in the Old Testament. Since God’s 
proper name really is separate from the titles “Lord” and “God” in the 
original Hebrew, we wanted the English translation to reflect that 
fact, even when read aloud. In some places, “Yah,” a shortened version 
of God’s Name is used. This is how it is written in the Hebrew 
manuscripts in those places. As a concession to strong tradition among 
Messianic Jews, the Hebrew Names Version of the World English Bible 
uses “LORD” or “GOD” (all capital letters) for “Yahweh” and “Yah.” We 
acknowledge that there are a wide variety of opinions on this subject, 
with preferences for using “HaShem” or “The Name.” Nevertheless, we 
are confident that the current rendition is pleasing to the Lord and 
acceptable to the majority of the Messianic Jews for whom we have made 
this translation available.

Some people would also like to see “God” replaced with “Elohim.” We 
think that would be confusing for readers of the WEB and not desired 
by the majority of the readers of the HNV.

Why don’t you capitalize pronouns referring to God?

In Hebrew, there is no such thing as upper and lower case. The 
original Greek manuscripts were written in all upper case letters. 
Therefore, this is mostly a question of English style more than a 
question of conforming to the original language texts. English style 
is a moving target, and there is not widespread agreement on 
capitalization of pronouns referring to God. A few hundred years ago, 
it was common practice to capitalize pronouns pertaining to any king 
or other national leader. Since God is the King of Kings, it only made 
sense to capitalize pronouns referring to God. In modern English, we 
don’t do that, even when writing very respectfully. In modern English, 
it is considered correct to either capitalize or not capitalize 
pronouns referring to God, but the practice should be consistent 
within a book. Other contemporary translations of the Holy Bible into 
English are pretty much evenly split between capitalizing and not 
capitalizing these pronouns. There are three other translational 
issues involved. One is that it seems rather awkward to translate 
quotations of people who were deriding Jesus Christ, and who at that 
point didn’t believe that He was the spotless Son of God, capitalizing 
the pronouns they used to refer to Him. The New American Standard 
Bible handles this by putting in a footnote to explain that they 
capitalized the pronouns because of who Jesus Christ is, not who the 
speaker thought He was. Another issue is that in some of the 
coronation psalms, it was clear that the psalm was originally written 
for the coronation of an earthly king (i. e. King Solomon), but the 
psalm applies and is used more often to sing praises to the King of 
Kings. In that case, it is difficult to choose which case to use for 
the pronouns. By not capitalizing pronouns pertaining to God, we as 
translators preserve the ambiguity of the original Scriptures and 
leave the application to the Holy Spirit and the reader. The third 
translational issue is a more practical one. Because the World English 
Bible is an update of the American Standard Version of 1901, which 
does not capitalize pronouns referring to God, it would have required 
reviewing all pronouns in the Bible for capitalization, determining 
from the context which referred to God and which did not. Even when 
done carefully, there is a risk of making errors in the process, and 
in some cases (such as those mentioned above), footnotes would be in 
order to explain the ambiguities that would be totally unnecessary 
without the capitalization. Therefore, we have decided to retain the 
ASV’s capitalization rules in the Bible text.
 
Why do you use contractions?

Because the Greek New Testament was written not in the formal written 
register of the language, but in the informal register of the language 
used by common people, we have decided to use the less formal spoken 
register of the English language. This sounds much more natural when 
read aloud. The primary difference noticeable between spoken or 
informal written English and formal written English is the greater use 
of contractions.
 
Does the WEB include the Apocrypha?

The World English Bible has a companion Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical 
section. This section is a revision of the KJV Apocrypha. (The ASV had 
no such section.) Opinions and teachings regarding these books vary 
from denomination to denomination and among Christians within those 
denominations. We believe that these books have value in helping 
people understand the context of the Old and New Testaments, and that 
they contain some godly wisdom. These books are also considered to be 
a part of the Bible by the Roman Catholic Church and some other 
denominations. Therefore, we believe that they are worth preserving. 
The World English Bible is an ecumenical work for both Catholic and 
Protestant use. We aren’t going to pretend to resolve all doctrinal 
differences, but we are able to provide a translation that should be 
good for all believers in Jesus Christ who speak English.

 

Where can I get the WEB? 

At http://eBible.org/web/, http://webible.org, or 
http://WorldEnglishBible.org. The World English Bible: Messianic 
Edition, also known as the Hebrew Names Version, is available at 
http://eBible.org/hnv/, http://hnvbible.org, or 
http://WorldEnglishBible.org/webme/. Pointers to where to buy paper 
copies are at http://eBible.org/buy.htm.
 
How can I help support the WEB work?

1. You can pray for everyone who works on it, that they would be 
sensitive to the Holy Spirit and correctly handle God’s Holy Word, and 
that God would abundantly provide everything needed for this work.

2. You can partner with us, helping us to make the World English Bible 
freely available by sending tax-deductible donations to:

RAINBOW MISSIONS
PO BOX 275
MESA CO 81643-0275
USA
 
Who Maintains this FAQ? 

This FAQ is maintained by Michael Paul Johnson 
(http://kahunapule.org). This page is kept at 
http://ebible.org/web/webfaq.htm.

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