Tag - Bible

Net Bible

June 1, 2006
John Koetsier
news

Saw this a while back: Net Bible.

It’s an entirely new Bible translation that was created cooperatively with thousands of scholars and everyday Christians, posted online in its entirety for free use and downloading.

The NET Bible is a completely new translation of the Bible with 60,932 translators’ notes! It was completed by more than 25 scholars – experts in the original biblical languages – who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Turn the pages and see the breadth of the translators’ notes, documenting their decisions and choices as they worked. The translators’ notes make the original languages far more accessible, allowing you to look over the translator’s shoulder at the very process of translation. This level of documentation is a first for a Bible translation, making transparent the textual basis and the rationale for key renderings (including major interpretive options and alternative translations). This unparalleled level of detail helps connect people to the Bible in the original languages in a way never before possible without years of study of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It unlocks the riches of the Bible’s truth from entirely new perspectives.

From what I’ve seen of it, it looks really, really good.

eBible alpha release

May 11, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I was fortunate enough to get an invite to the beta release of eBible today.

Very cool! Web 2.0 meets several-thousand-year-old holy book!

I plan to do some digging around in the site over the next few days and post a few more thoughts, but first impressions are very positive. It’s clean, simple, and fast … and there is a Bible search toolbar plugin for Firefox.

One of the things that having a Bible online is good for is stats. As the eBible team figured it out, there are:

  • 1,189 chapters
  • 31,102 verses
  • 783,137 words
  • 3,566,480 letters

in the King James Version of the Bible. Now you know!

By the way, I do have an invite to give away, so if you want one, please let me know. The best way to tell me is by leaving a comment on this post.

Romans chapter 3 (in simple, modern English)

February 22, 2006
John Koetsier
news

This is the third installment of what I hope to be a complete “translation” of Romans. Please note that this is not scripture; it is my understanding of scripture. Any with questions or concerns should check the original.

In Romans chapter 3, Paul starts to introduce a solution to the problem of being right with God: faith. (And, what God gives us through faith!)

Read More

Read More

Romans chapter 2 (in simple, modern English)

February 13, 2006
John Koetsier
news

This is the second installment of what I hope to be a complete “translation” of Romans. Please note that this is not scripture; it is my understanding of scripture. Any with questions or concerns should check the original.

In Romans chapter 2, Paul goes more into depth about the what God’s law is, and what it means for us when we break the law – or when we obey the law.

Read More

Read More

Translating Romans from the Italian

February 5, 2006
John Koetsier
news

Romans is a book of the Bible in the New Testament. It was written by the apostle Paul in the first century of the A.D. calendar, and it’s one of the hardest books of the Bible to understand.

That’s why I’m going to try to “translate” Romans. Not from the original languages. But from the English that’s it’s written in.

This is a crazy ambition. I’m not a Biblical scholar. I don’t know any New Testament Greek or Latin. No degree in theology.

But it’s something I’ve felt led to do. And it’s something I’m going to try to do – prayerfully.

Why? Because more often than not, when there’s a tough passage in Romans, I’m not sure what it means. The trouble starts because I’m not even sure what Paul is writing.

I don’t think that’s all to do with translations and how they’ve interpreted the words. Even the apostle Peter says that Paul’s letters can be hard to understand.

I want to make them as easy to understand, in plain, simple English, as possible. I pray for God’s help.

As I work through the book, I’ll post links to the various articles here, so there will be one page from which all the chapters can be accessed.

One final note:
Anything can be edited – post comments if you feel it should be. And whatever I produce is NOT holy scripture … it’s my best effort towards making this key book of the Bible accessible to average people today.