Modern English Bible translations consists of translations developed and published throughout the

late modern period In many periodizations of human history, the late modern period followed the early modern period. It began approximately around the year 1800 and depending on the author either ended with the beginning of contemporary history after World War ...

() to present-day (). A multitude of recent attempts have been made to translate the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

into English. Most modern translations published since are based on scholarly

critical editions Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. Recent translations typically rely on the ''

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH4, is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in ...

'' / ''

Biblia Hebraica Quinta The ''Biblia Hebraica Quinta Editione'', abbreviated as BHQ or rarely BH5, is the fifth edition of the '' Biblia Hebraica'' and when complete will supersede the fourth edition, the ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'' (BHS). BHQ Fascicles and Edi ...

'', counterparted by the ''

Novum Testamentum Graece (''The New Testament in Greek'') is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its mos ...

'' (and the ''Greek New Testament'', published by the

United Bible Societies The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a global fellowship of around 150 Bible Societies operating in more than 240 countries and territories. It has working hubs in England, Singapore, Nairobi and Miami. The headquarters are located in Swindon, Eng ...

, which contains the same text). With regard to the use of Bible translations among

biblical scholarship Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...

, the

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.English Standard Version The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently published critic ...

is emerging as a primary text of choice among biblical scholars and theologians inclined toward theological conservatism.

Development of Modern English Bible versions

The

Wessex Gospels __NOTOC__ The ''Wessex Gospels'' (also known as the ''West-Saxon Gospels'') refer to a translation of the four gospels of the Christian Bible into a West Saxon dialect of Old English. Produced from approximately AD 990 to 1175 in present-day Englan ...

were the first translation of the four

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s in English without accompanying Latin text. The

Authorized King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

of 1611 was sporadically altered until 1769, but was not thoroughly updated until the creation of the

Revised Version The Revised Version (RV) or English Revised Version (ERV) of the Bible is a late 19th-century British revision of the King James Version. It was the first and remains the only officially authorised and recognised revision of the King James Versio ...

in 1885; it was not until the

Revised Standard Version The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation itself is a revision of the Ameri ...

of 1952 (New Testament in 1946) that a rival to the KJV was composed, nearly 350 years after the KJV was first published. The RSV gained widespread adoption among the mainstream Protestant Churches in America and a Catholic Edition was released in 1962. It was updated as the

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.New English Bible The New English Bible (NEB) is an English translation of the Bible. The New Testament was published in 1961 and the Old Testament (with the Apocrypha) was published on 16 March 1970. In 1989, it was significantly revised and republished as the Re ...

was initiated in the United Kingdom, intended to enable readers to better understand the King James Bible. In 1958, J. B. Phillips (1906–1982) produced an edition of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

in paraphrase, the ''Letters to Young Churches'', so that members of his youth group could understand what the New Testament authors had written. In 1966, '' Good News for Modern Man'', a non-literal translation of the New Testament, was released to wide acceptance. Others followed suit.

The Living Bible The Living Bible (TLB or LB) is a personal paraphrase, not a translation, of the Bible in English by Kenneth N. Taylor and first published in 1971. Taylor used the American Standard Version of 1901 as his base text. Origin In a 1979 interview ...

, released in 1971, was published by its author

Kenneth N. Taylor Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor (May 8, 1917 – June 10, 2005) was an American publisher and author, better known as the creator of ''The Living Bible'' and the founder of Tyndale House, a Christian publishing company, and Living Bibles Internat ...

, based on the literal

American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had b ...

of 1901. Taylor had begun because of the trouble his children had in understanding the literal (and sometimes archaic) text of the King James Bible. His work was at first intended for children, but was later positioned for marketing to high school and college students, as well as adults wishing to better understand the Bible. Like Phillips' version, the Living Bible was a dramatic departure from the

King James version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

. Despite widespread criticism due to being a

paraphrase A paraphrase () is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. The term itself is derived via Latin ', . The act of paraphrasing is also called ''paraphrasis''. History Although paraphrases likely abounded in oral tra ...

rather than a translation, the popularity of

created a demand for a new approach to translating the Bible into contemporary English called

dynamic equivalence The terms dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence, coined by Eugene Nida, are associated with two dissimilar translation approaches that are employed to achieve different levels of literalness between the source and target text, as evidenc ...

, which attempts to preserve the meaning of the original text in a readable way. Realizing the immense benefits of a Bible that was more easily accessible to the average reader, and responding to the criticisms of the Living Bible, the

American Bible Society American Bible Society is a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engage ...

extended the ''Good News for Modern Man'' to the

Good News Bible Good News Bible (GNB), also called the Good News Translation (GNT) in the United States, is an English translation of the Bible by the American Bible Society. It was first published as the New Testament under the name ''Good News for Modern Man'' ...

(1976) by adding the Old Testament, in this more readable style. This translation has gone on to become one of the best selling in history. In 1996, a new revision of Taylor's Living Bible was published. This

New Living Translation The New Living Translation (NLT) is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Bible. The origin of the NLT came from a project aiming to revise ''The Living Bible'' (TLB). This effort eventually led to the creation of the ...

is a full translation from the original languages rather than a paraphrase of the Bible. Another project aimed to create something in between the very literal translation of the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

and the more informal

. The goal of this was to create a Bible that would be scholarly yet not overly formal. The result of this project was the

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest an ...

(1978). This version became highly popular in Evangelical Protestant circles. The debate between the formal equivalence and dynamic (or 'functional') equivalence translation styles has increased with the introduction of

inclusive language Inclusive language avoids expressions that are considered to express or imply ideas that are sexist, racist, or otherwise biased, prejudiced, or insulting to any particular group of people and sometimes animals as well. Use of inclusive language ...

versions. Various terms are employed to defend or attack this development, such as ''feminist'', ''gender neutral'', or ''gender accurate''. New editions of some previous translations have been updated to take this change in language into account, including the New Jerusalem Bible (1985), the

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.Revised English Bible The Revised English Bible (REB) is a 1989 English-language translation of the Bible that updates the New English Bible (NEB) of 1970. As with its predecessor, it is published by the publishing houses of both the universities of Oxford and Cambri ...

(1989), and

Today's New International Version Today's New International Version (TNIV) is an English translation of the Bible which was developed by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT also developed the New International Version (NIV) in the 1970s. The TNIV is based on the NI ...

(2005). Some translations have approached the issue more cautiously, such as the

English Standard Version The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently published critic ...

(2001). A further process that has assisted in greatly increasing the number of English Bible versions is the use of the Internet in producing virtual bibles, of which a growing number are beginning to appear in print – especially given the development of "

print on demand Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...

". Today, there is a range of translations ranging from the most literal, such as the ''

Young's Literal Translation Young's Literal Translation (YLT) is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of ''Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible'' and ''Concise Critical Comments on the New Tes ...

'' to the most free such as '' The Message'' and '' The Word on the Street''.

18th and 19th century translations

20th and 21st century translations

King James Version and derivatives

The

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

of 1611 (in its 1769 amended Oxford edition) still has an immense following, and as such there have been a number of different attempts to update or improve upon it. The English Revised Version and its derivatives also stem from the King James Version.

English Revised Version and derivatives

The

English Revised Version The Revised Version (RV) or English Revised Version (ERV) of the Bible is a late 19th-century British revision of the King James Version. It was the first and remains the only officially authorised and recognised revision of the King James Versio ...

was the first official attempt to update the King James Version of 1769. This was adapted in the United States as the

. The translations and versions that stem from them are shown in date order:

New International Version and derivatives

The popular

has appeared in a number of editions.

Dynamic translations and paraphrases

A significant aspect in translations from the latter half of the 20th century was much greater use of the principles of

Internet-based translations

The

New English Translation The New English Translation (NET Bible) is a free, "completely new" online English translation of the Bible, "with 60,932 translators' notes" sponsored by the Biblical Studies Foundation and published by Biblical Studies Press. History and text ...

(or NET Bible) is a project to publish a translation of the Bible using the Internet. It is freely available and accompanied by extensive translator's notes. Another is The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible, which uses a collaborative

MediaWiki MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...

website that interlinks the words of the Bible to articles and image galleries about the topic. The

Open English Bible The Open English Bible (OEB) is a freely redistributable modern translation based on the Twentieth Century New Testament translation. A work in progress, with its first publication in August 2010, the OEB is edited and distributed by Russell Al ...

aims to create the first modern public domain English translation of the Bible, using an open-source process for corrections and modernizing verses.

Messianic translations

Some Bible translations find popular use in, or were prepared especially for, the

Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism ( he, or , ) is a modernist and syncretic movement of Protestant Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism and other Jewish traditions into evangelicalism. It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier He ...

movement.

New English Bible and derivatives

The initiative to create the New English Bible began in 1946, in an attempt to make an entirely new translation of the Bible in contemporary English.

Public domain translations

Catholic translations

In addition to the above Catholic English Bibles, all of which have an

imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...

granted by a Catholic

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, the authors of the Catholic Public Domain Version of 2009 and the 2013 translation from the Septuagint by Jesuit priest Nicholas King refer to them as Catholic Bibles. These versions have not been granted an imprimatur, but do include the Catholic biblical canon of 73 books.

Sacred Name translations

These

Sacred Name Bibles Sacred Name Bibles are Bible translations that consistently use Hebraic forms of the God of Israel's personal name, instead of its English language translation, in both the Old and New Testaments. Some Bible versions, such as the Jerusalem Bi ...

were all done with the specific aim of carrying into English the actual Name of God as they were in the originals. Most have been done by people from the

Sacred Name Movement The Sacred Name Movement (SNM) refers to the movement within Adventism which, prompted by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, were concerned with the Hebrew name of God, a concern that led the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society to the adoption of the nam ...

. They are distinguished by their policy of transliterating Hebrew-based forms for sacred names, such as "Yahweh", "YHWH", etc.

Masoretic Text / Jewish translations

Jewish translations follow the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

, and are usually published in bilingual editions with the Hebrew text facing the English translation. The translations often reflect traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible. As translations of the Masoretic Text, Jewish translations contain neither the

apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

nor the Christian

Septuagint translations

Simplified English Bibles

There have been a number of attempts to produce a Bible that greatly simplifies the English. (Some of these versions are also listed in other categories: for example, the NIrV is also found under the NIV section). These are translations that are not necessarily a very dynamic translation, but go beyond simply everyday English into a restricted vocabulary set, often aimed at non-native speakers of English.

Translations exclusively published by Jehovah's Witnesses

Translations exclusively published by the Latter Day Saints movement

Adaptive retellings

Some versions have been labelled "adaptive retelling"Boswell, Freddy. 2006. Classifying "Cotton Patch Version" and similar renderings as adaptive retelling rather than translation (La clasificación de la "cotton patch version" y de otros tipos de versiones más como reescrituras adaptadoras más traducciones)." Hermēneus, Vol. 8: 45–66. as they take many liberties with the form of the text.