The NET Bible ® (acronym for New English Translation) is a free, on-line English translation of the Bible, sponsored by the Biblical Studies Foundation (aka Bible.org). The efforts of translating the Bible from its original languages into over 2,000 others have spanned more than two millennia. ... A number of Old English Bible translations were prepared in mediaeval England, translations of parts of the Bible into the Old English language. ... The age of Middle English was not a fertile time for Bible translations but saw the first major translation that of John Wyclif. ... Early Modern English Bible translations are those translations of the Bible which were made between about 1500 and 1800, the period of Early Modern English. ... There are many attempts to translate the Bible into modern English which is defined as the form of English in use after 1800. ... Jewish English Bible translations are modern English Bible translations that include the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) according to the masoretic text, and according to the traditional division and order of Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim. ... 11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum This article discusses usage of the term Hebrew Bible. For the article on the Hebrew Bible itself, see Tanakh. ... 11th century Targum Tanakh [תנ״ך] (also Tanach or Tenach) is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. ... There are other translation projects which are worthy of note which are not easily classified in the other groups: Anchor Bible Series - The Anchor Bible is a translation treating the Bible merely as a historical text; each book is translated by a different scholar, with extensive critical commentary. ... Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ... Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language — the source text — and the production, in another language, of a new, equivalent text — the target text, or translation. ... The Bible (sometimes The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word, or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the classical name for the Hebrew Bible of Judaism or the combination of the Old Testament and New Testament of Christianity (The Bible actually refers to at least two...

The New English Translation, like the NIV, is a completely new translation of the Bible and not an update or revision of an older one like the RSV. The translation and extensive notes were undertaken by twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. It was conceived initially in November 1995 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the US at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Many of those involved in the initial discussions of the project eventually became part of the translation team. The translation itself is claimed to be non-sectarian and evangelical. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible that was popular in the mid-20th century and posed the first serious challenge to the King James Version (KJV) owing to its aim to be both a readable and literally accurate modern English translation of the Bible. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 7 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ... Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 33rd 119,283 km² 255 km 455 km 2. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... The word evangelicalism usually refers to a tendency in diverse branches of Protestantism, typified by an emphasis on evangelism, a personal experience of conversion, biblically-oriented faith, and a belief in the relevance of Christian faith to cultural issues. ...

The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an digital version of a modern translation over the Internet and on CD-ROM without cost for the user. The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ...

The translation is most notable for its lengthy footnotes (which unlike typical study Bibles undertake to explain the rationale for the translation), its open translation process, its availability on the Internet (both during its beta process and in its final form), and its open copyright permitting free distribution. A footnote is a note placed at the bottom of a page of a book or document that comments on, and may cite a reference for, a part of the main text and is normally flagged by a superscript number within the main text thus: 1 for the first footnote...

The First Edition, available in November 2005 on the tenth anniversary of the inception of the project, may be downloaded free of charge and is also available in printed editions.

External links

• The NET Bible home page
• A generally negative review of the NET, from a conservative perspective
• A very much more positive review of the NET Bible from the Bible Software Review Weblog
• Comments on the NET Bible from scholars, Bible translators, and Christian leaders selected by the NET editors