This contains English public domain versions through the years, from most recent to least.
Near future, God willing — A public domain New Testament by Maurice Robinson, a professional Greek textual expert, is on the way! It will be conformed to the Byzantine Textform, and be a fairly literal translation like the KJV, but in modern English. It’s the Bible translation I most look forward to.
Bibles to Read Online
2009, September 22 — New Heart English Bible. This version has been out a few months. The scholarship underlying it is in extreme doubt, as the man behind it, Wayne Mitchell, is largely unknown to the world without any known credentials, and a cursory look at the translation reveals clear errors, such as the footnoted claim that God’s name in Hebrew is “Yahovah.” Its New Testament is based on the Alexandrian-leaning NA/UBS text. This version is nothing but a slightly revised version of the World English Bible (see below). WANTED: Some information on who this Wayne Mitchell is, along with an in-depth examination of the text by some independent source.
2008, August — World English Bible. By missionary/translator Michael Johnson. This version is largely good, though riddled with small inacurracies. WANTED: A thorough revision, or in-depth evaluation, of this already good but imperfect version. The New Heart English Bible (see above) does not meet this need.
ca. 2000 — A Conservative Version. By Walter Porter, a Professor of Psychology. It is translated from the excellent Greek New Testament by Robinson and Pierpont, and manages to combine fairly modern wording with the a very literal translation and accurate use of “thee” and “thou” singular pronouns as distinguished from the plural “you” and “ye.” It is, however, tainted by the translator’s excessive desire to see the word “man” in the text, even when the Greek does not support it (it’s a theological hang-up over the Bible being a masculine book that motivates this). In addition, some phrases are translated in very strange ways. Nevertheless, the Greek-English study version offered on the site contains a wealth of Greek-language information.
1903 — Ferrar Fenton Bible — This Bible is one of the first modern English Bibles, and contains the entire Bible in what the translator believed to be the correct chronological order.
1901 — American Standard Version (biblegateway). This is an American revision of the 1885 Revised Version. And if you want to see a facsimile from 1901, you can see that here.
ca 1900 — “Pure Cambridge” King James Bible — this King James Bible is almost identical to the 1769 version, but there’s some KJV-Onlyists out there who prefer it. I disagree with the folk who run this website, but the Bible’s pretty decent.
1898 — Young’s Literal Translation of the Old and New Testaments. This work is the closest public domain translation to the exact wording of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures that I have found anywhere. Young was a self-taught expert in Oriental languages who had no discomfort at all with disagreeing with standard scholarly ideas when he believed they were in error. There’s also a PDF download here, but it’s not a facsimile, so it may contain errors, and does not follow Young’s paragraph divisions. WANTED: A pdf facsimile of the whole work which includes his excellent prefatory material.
1890 — Darby’s Translation (biblegateway). WANTED: facsimile of the 1890 printing.
1881 — Revised Version New Testament. HTML. This is a revision of the famed King James Version, but follows Alexandrian-type manuscripts in the New Testament, so I would say that it’s less reliable than the version it is made from. For more information see this critique of it.
1769 — King James Bible html text. This is KJV most are familiar with.
1611 — Authorized/King James Version. Contrary to what some think, the King James Bibles you see today are not the 1611 King James, but rather KJV editions from later, many from 1769. This online facsimile allows you to view any page of the King James Version as it was originally printed.
english bibles
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This contains English public domain versions through the years, from most recent to least.
Near future, God willing — A public domain New Testament by Maurice Robinson, a professional Greek textual expert, is on the way! It will be conformed to the Byzantine Textform, and be a fairly literal translation like the KJV, but in modern English. It’s the Bible translation I most look forward to.
Bibles to Read Online
2009, September 22 — New Heart English Bible. This version has been out a few months. The scholarship underlying it is in extreme doubt, as the man behind it, Wayne Mitchell, is largely unknown to the world without any known credentials, and a cursory look at the translation reveals clear errors, such as the footnoted claim that God’s name in Hebrew is “Yahovah.” Its New Testament is based on the Alexandrian-leaning NA/UBS text. This version is nothing but a slightly revised version of the World English Bible (see below). WANTED: Some information on who this Wayne Mitchell is, along with an in-depth examination of the text by some independent source.
2008, August — World English Bible. By missionary/translator Michael Johnson. This version is largely good, though riddled with small inacurracies. WANTED: A thorough revision, or in-depth evaluation, of this already good but imperfect version. The New Heart English Bible (see above) does not meet this need.
ca. 2000 — A Conservative Version. By Walter Porter, a Professor of Psychology. It is translated from the excellent Greek New Testament by Robinson and Pierpont, and manages to combine fairly modern wording with the a very literal translation and accurate use of “thee” and “thou” singular pronouns as distinguished from the plural “you” and “ye.” It is, however, tainted by the translator’s excessive desire to see the word “man” in the text, even when the Greek does not support it (it’s a theological hang-up over the Bible being a masculine book that motivates this). In addition, some phrases are translated in very strange ways. Nevertheless, the Greek-English study version offered on the site contains a wealth of Greek-language information.
1903 — Ferrar Fenton Bible — This Bible is one of the first modern English Bibles, and contains the entire Bible in what the translator believed to be the correct chronological order.
1901 — American Standard Version (biblegateway). This is an American revision of the 1885 Revised Version. And if you want to see a facsimile from 1901, you can see that here.
ca 1900 — “Pure Cambridge” King James Bible — this King James Bible is almost identical to the 1769 version, but there’s some KJV-Onlyists out there who prefer it. I disagree with the folk who run this website, but the Bible’s pretty decent.
1898 — Young’s Literal Translation of the Old and New Testaments. This work is the closest public domain translation to the exact wording of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures that I have found anywhere. Young was a self-taught expert in Oriental languages who had no discomfort at all with disagreeing with standard scholarly ideas when he believed they were in error. There’s also a PDF download here, but it’s not a facsimile, so it may contain errors, and does not follow Young’s paragraph divisions. WANTED: A pdf facsimile of the whole work which includes his excellent prefatory material.
1890 — Darby’s Translation (biblegateway). WANTED: facsimile of the 1890 printing.
1885 — Revision Version of the Bible. HTML. See below.
1881 — Revised Version New Testament. HTML. This is a revision of the famed King James Version, but follows Alexandrian-type manuscripts in the New Testament, so I would say that it’s less reliable than the version it is made from. For more information see this critique of it.
1851 — Brenton’s English Septuagint, partial English trans. WANTED: Entire trans, entire PDF facsimile.
1769 — King James Bible html text. This is KJV most are familiar with.
1611 — Authorized/King James Version. Contrary to what some think, the King James Bibles you see today are not the 1611 King James, but rather KJV editions from later, many from 1769. This online facsimile allows you to view any page of the King James Version as it was originally printed.
1539 — Coverdale’s Bible.
Bibles You Can Download for Use with Bible Software
The SWORD Project Bible Collection
The Online Bible(c) Software Collection
e-Sword Bible collection