About the texts

Eleven translations, ten in English and one in Dutch. Choose one from the translation button at the top of any chapter; Settings can show two side by side.

• King James Version (KJV). The classic (1611, as revised in 1769).
• Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Modern English (2022), with paragraphs and headings.
• World English Bible (WEB). Modern English, plain and easy to read.
• Free Bible Version (FBV). Plain modern English (2018).
• Literal Standard Version (LSV). Modern and word for word (2020).
• American Standard Version (ASV). Formal, close to the KJV (1901).
• Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). Word for word, very literal (1898).
• Darby Translation (Darby). Literal (1890).
• Geneva Bible (Geneva). The Reformers’ Bible, before the KJV (1599).
• Bible in Basic English (BBE). Simple words, good for new readers (1965).
• Statenvertaling (SV). The classic Dutch Bible (1637, in its 1917 spelling).

Nine are in the public domain (the Berean Standard Bible was released into it in 2023); the Literal Standard Version and the Free Bible Version are free to share under CC BY-SA 4.0. The World English Bible, Free Bible Version, Literal Standard Version, American Standard Version, Young’s Literal, Darby, Geneva, Basic English and Statenvertaling texts come from eBible.org. In the King James Version and the World English Bible the words of Jesus can be shown in red (Settings), and every word of the KJV links to the Greek or Hebrew behind it (press and hold the word; Settings: “Hold a word”).

Five commentaries. Matthew Henry (1662–1714) was an English pastor whose commentary has been read for three hundred years for its warmth and plain good sense; his spelling is left as he wrote it. The Tyndale Open Study Notes are modern study notes from Tyndale House. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown (1871) is short and to the point. John Calvin (1509–1564), the Reformer, wrote on 48 books of the Bible (not Judges to Esther, Job, Proverbs to the Song of Songs, 2 and 3 John or Revelation; his Ezekiel stops at chapter 20, where he died); his own translation of each passage, his Latin and the editors’ footnote numbers are left out. John Gill (1697–1771), a London pastor, went through the whole Bible verse by verse (1746–1763), with a close eye on the Hebrew and Greek (the copy used here lacks 1 Chronicles 11).

About each book. The short introduction to each book and the articles on its people and themes are from the Tyndale Open Study Notes (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Study tools. Greek and Hebrew words and definitions from STEP Bible (Tyndale House, Cambridge; CC BY 4.0); the KJV’s word links from the Free Use Bible API. Cross-references and topics from OpenBible.info (CC BY); cross-references by phrase from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, arranged by CrossReferences.org (CC BY 4.0). The Old Testament quoted in the New, and parallel passages, from the UBS Parallel Passage Database (© 2023 United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0). Dictionary entries adapted from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary (Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0), and from Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897) where Tyndale has no entry; what names meant from Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869; older scholarship, so modern dictionaries sometimes differ); what KJV words meant in 1611 (hold a word) from William Aldis Wright’s Bible Word-Book (1884), in short notes; topics also from Nave’s Topical Bible (1896). Maps: places from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) on a Natural Earth map (public domain).

Daily reading. Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening (1865–1868) and Faith’s Checkbook (1888), and Daily Light on the Daily Path (Samuel Bagster and his family), all public domain, from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Listening. The Berean Standard Bible read by Bob Souer or Barry Hays (the free recordings are of the BSB; reading another translation, the player offers the BSB text to read along). Or choose Device voice in the player: your phone or computer reads whichever translation is on screen, verse by verse. The verse being read is underlined as you listen.

The Bibles (apart from the LSV and FBV), Matthew Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Calvin, Gill, Easton, Hitchcock, Wright, Nave, Spurgeon, Daily Light and the recordings are in the public domain. The LSV, the FBV, the Tyndale Open Study Notes, the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary and the UBS Parallel Passage Database are used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Bible text, recordings, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Calvin and Gill via the Free Use Bible API; Matthew Henry, Easton, Hitchcock, Nave, Spurgeon and Daily Light from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.