Discover. . . More We are not a gathering of people in a general sense, but a community that is about knowing, loving, enjoying, worshiping and proclaiming Jesus Christ. From the very first gathering of this group of people in Williamsburg we have believed this amazing message of Christ’s work on the cross and have sought to make it the fabric of the church.
Williamsburg Church of Christ
227 Merrimac Trail
Williamsburg, Virginia, 23185
757.253.5662
Sunday Worship 9:30 | Fellowship 10:45 | Classes 11:00 | Sunday Evening 6:30 | Wednesday AM 10:00 | Wednesday Meal 6:00 | Wednesday PM Classes 7:00
About the World English Bible (WEB)
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.
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.
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.
The World English Bible (WEB)
The World English Bible is a public domain update of the American Standard Version of 1901 into modern English. This audio Bible can be legally copied and given to others. (non-commercial use)
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