World English Bible
en
The World English Bible (WEB) is a modern English translation of the Bible, notable for being one of the few contemporary translations fully dedicated to the public domain (CC0). The project was led by Michael Paul Johnson and a team of volunteer collaborators, with the explicit goal of producing a quality translation, free of any copyright restrictions, that could be reproduced, distributed, and modified by anyone without the need for permission or royalty payments.
In methodological terms, the WEB takes as its starting point the American Standard Version of 1901, which was already in the public domain, and was progressively revised and updated based on the original Hebrew (Masoretic Text, with consultation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint) and Greek (Majority Text for the New Testament). The translation seeks a balance between fidelity to the originals and readability in modern English, updating the archaic vocabulary of the ASV and adjusting constructions for a contemporary reader, without sacrificing accuracy.
The historical context of the WEB is closely linked to the free software movement and the growth of the internet, which made possible and desirable the existence of textual resources without legal barriers. The translation is continuously updated and refined by its team, with new editions regularly released in various digital formats. It has been widely adopted in translation projects into other languages, biblical applications, websites, and missionary initiatives that need a biblical text usable without legal restrictions.
The World English Bible is distinguished by its dedication to the public domain under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, which means that its translators have waived all copyrights, placing the text in the freest possible sphere. This exceptional status makes the WEB a resource of immense value for developers, researchers, missionaries, and anyone needing a modern English biblical text completely free of restrictions, contributing to the global democratization of access to the Scriptures.