The World English Bible is an update of the American Standard Version (ASV) of the Holy Bible. Its style, while fairly literally translated, is in informal, spoken English. The WEB is designed to sound good and be accurate when read aloud.
Key features of the World English Bible: • The Majority Text used as the basis for the New Testament, • God’s Proper Name in the Old Testament translated as “Yahweh”, • Over 1,000 translation notes provided throughout the volume, offering important information concerning the translation of the Bible text (original wording, multiple possible readings, significant variants).
This ebook edition offers a very intuitive and user-friendly navigation.
Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:
* They are officially published under that name * They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author * They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
Goodreads has set a limit of 25 on the number of times one can record rereading the same book. Since I reread the Bible three times a year (twice concurrently during the main BRC year and once during the summer), I've run into that limit here, so I'll have to start manually noting my read dates in the review:
May 12, 2023 May 31, 2023
*****
August 2018: Having found a recording of the NT I like even better (Johnny Cash's NKJV is it!), henceforth my logging of this edition will refer only to the OT.
*****
I occasionally need to take megadoses of Vitamin D to counteract a deficiency in my system. As I listened to the whole Bible in a month (February 23-March 23, 2013), I realized that an analogous process was taking place.
I started listening when I was ill and not up to doing much other than holding down the couch. I dozed through some of it, especially in those first few days of frequent therapeutic napping, and I'm sure I missed quite a bit when I was feeling better and listening to it as a backdrop for various other activities, but I was still taking in far more of the Word than I'd ever done in any previous month of my life.
About halfway through my listening, my pastor preached on the need to partake of hearty servings the Word, not just pick at a few verses and push them around the plate. He noted that just as we don't really understand the magic of how God turns our physical food into thriving bodies, we don't really understand how He turns our spiritual food into thriving souls, but that lack of understanding doesn't hinder either process one iota. That helped me resist the temptation to quit or slow down because I wasn't fully attentive. My system needed a superabundance of spiritual food, and I kept heaping up the plate and shoveling it in.
I appreciated Mr Field's reading. He eschewed the theatrical (Max McLean is not my cup of tea), yet performed with adequate and appropriate affect; he read as a pastor rather than as an actor. I found the fast pace comfortable, though others have noted that it's too quick for them.
My iPod must have been set to repeat the album, because when it finished Revelation, it went right back to Genesis. I kept listening. I'm still hungry.
We worked through this translation in family worship. I appreciated that they followed the Majority Text in the NT and the translation for the most part was reliable but a bit wooden. I like the mentality of a copyright free text and the work that was done on this but don't think it will catch on as a main translation though.
To be clear I am reviewing the translation and audio version and not the Bible itself. I also ramble and don't focus on just a review of the book.
I chose to round up from what would have been a 7 (or even 6) of 10. I'm torn because I am understanding of some of the piecemeal problems that come from a translation like this, especially when the goal is to be copyright free. I'm a huge fan of Creative Commons licenses and copyright-free materials, so that's a plus in my mind. There are places where Yahweh was used instead of translating it to God. I like this idea, but I don't know if it was meant to be permanent. This translation was published in bits and pieces and I could see there being tension between how to handle it or even a conscious decision to wait. The bigger problem I have with it, is that it seems to be applied inconsistently - other names of God (Elohim, etc) that were translated and times where Yahweh was also translated to God. Most translations have a standard way of handling this (and it is often addressed in the introduction, which wasn't available in the YouVersion app), but it seemed a little all over the place here. The other disorienting aspect was that the audio version frequently didn't match the print version. Many translations go through minor variations like this, or readers accidentally slip into memorized translations on familiar passages, but the frequency of the disagreements between the two was jarring. The audio quality is low, which is somewhat expected for a volunteer read through on a free translation. I don't like that, but I've also started listening to more computer/AI read audiobooks this year and it has come a long way since the time where it all sounded like Stephen Hawking. Now that the translation is supposed to be finalized it might benefit from this kind of audio treatment to improve audio quality, but there will be flaws there too with pronunciation (which might be particularly bad with proper nouns) and occasionally pacing. Because of how it has been digitized (not just that it is, but the methods by which it was) it has been easy for me to import that into my flashcard app and so I have been using it for memorization (or going in and modifying it here and there to match a preferred translation without having to retype everything). Outside of that, it is probably not a translation I will refer to often, but it was a good read through and I strongly support Creative Commons Licensing.
This is my 6th time going through the Bible in a year with a new translation each year. I actually went through it twice this year, the other time was in about 3 months with the Ten Minute Bible Hour using the NLT going in chronological order. I also went through the New Testament and the Minor Prophets following along with two studies at my church, so that probably adds another half. For my annual read through I used this translation (WEB-US) and ironically the ESV Study Bible Reading Plan http://bible.com/r/T . For the reading plan I've always liked a multi-part approach, but I really liked using minor prophets & chronicles as one part (although times where other histories, like Kings sometimes was difficult to separate the two storylines).
This is not a very reliable translation. For example, please see 1 Peter 2:1 in the MEV and compare it to any other version such as the NIV, ESV, NASB, and you will see that some words(a specific thought of the author) is missing from the MEV version.
Solid translation though not my favorite. I still prefer NASB or for readability, NLT or NKJV. The key benefit to this translation is the open copyright that allows as much to be quoted as desired without hassle from copyright owners.
My favorite Bible by far. A great choice if you need to use God's word to make a living. Here's why:
You may copy, publish, proclaim, distribute, redistribute, sell, give away, quote, memorize, read publicly, broadcast, transmit, share, back up, post on the Internet, print, reproduce, preach, teach from, and use the World English Bible as much as you want, and others may also do so. All we ask is that if you CHANGE the actual text of the World English Bible in any way, other than changing from American to British spelling or vice versa, you not call the result the World English Bible any more. This is to avoid confusion, not to limit your freedom. The Holy Bible is God's Word. It belongs to God. He gave it to us freely, and we who have worked on this translation freely give it to you by dedicating it to the Public Domain.
English Bible, World. The Holy Bible with Intertestamental Literature: World English Bible Kindle Edition.
It cost me only $1.99 on amazon, and you can copy and paste with the kindle app which is free for pc.
The Bible is a collection of manuscripts which were inspired by and sometime dictated by YHWH, the God of Israel. It is separated into two sections, Old Testament and New Testament (testament meaning - "telling").
The Old Testament is the the Jewish compilation called the Tanakh and is the historical and religious compilation of manuscripts of the descendants of Abraham called "the Jews." Some historians and scholars find problems with some parts' authenticity; however, the most important part of the manuscript is the instructions that God gave to Moses to give to the people and the agreement/vows/covenant they agreed to honor.
The New testament is a sequel of the Old Testament with what scholars consider questionable accuracy and authenticity compared with the Tanakh because much of the Old Testament was written by the people during the era, while the New Testament authorship is not well established and versions that are available were written according to orally transmitted legacy 50 to over 100 years after they occurred. It is obviously more theological rather than historical in its nature. Still, the gist of the story told is discernable.
The World English Bible has one very important difference from almost all others - The Name of God. In most bibles, the name of God is changed from YHWH to "the LORD" or "GOD" when it was originally written with the proper name spelled YHWH (without vowels) and pronounced (most likely) Yehowah or Yehovah. The World English Bible is basically the New American Standard bible, with The Name Restored.
Having read the complete Bible in 5 translations, I most appreciate this one for that reason. It helps clarify the contents very well.
I got 3/4 of the way through Exodus and I am throwing in the towel. I am so bored, I cannot make myself listen to anymore. But Clayton came to my rescue. I finally got an audible trial so we could listed to God Is Disappointed in You narrated by James Urbaniak.
I cannot wait for our road trip to Chicago! This is totally going to count for my bible reading.
1/8 - 2015 NdT Book Challenge: "The Bible [to learn that it's easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself]"
I am listening to the World English Bible available on Librivox. This is going to take quite a while, so I'll leave my notes as I finish each book.
Genesis My goodness the bible is boring. I'm sure there are parts lost in translation, but there is little here. We don't get any of the whys or hows. After a few chapters it started to get really hard to concentrate. There was this one guy, someone gave him a woman, who gave him sons and daughters and most of them turned out to be assholes. ad nauseam.
I did find it interesting how many of the stories I knew based on the animated movies I watched as a kid. I wonder if equating them to the Disney movies I loved growing up made me less inclined to believe.
Started in 2016 for a modified version of the How to Change Your Mind Bible reading plan (instead of using one translation for all the read-throughs, I'm using a different translation each time).
Have read so far: Genesis - July-August 2016 Job - August 2017 Ruth - 4/8/19
With good use of English language grammar & vocabulary, this bible is great for the average layman or business person that are merely curious about what the bible is all about, and how to make oneself live a happier lifestyle. This is like an entry-level bible to satisfy one's curiousity about Christianity in general. A good read!