God's Word: Held Captive?

Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Where do we learn about the things Jesus commanded us? Right, the Bible! Every believer needs a Bible. According to Ephesians 6:17, the word of God (again, the Bible) is called the sword of the Spirit. How is anyone supposed to live a victorious Christian life against the enemy without a sword? Paul tells us more about the importance of the Bible:

Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

The Problem

Suppose you feel called to help spread the Gospel in your town by distributing copies of the Gospel of John to anyone who will listen. This Gospel tells the story of Jesus' life, and would probably be far more effective in evangelism than simple tracts, for those willing to read it.

So you go to your computer, get an electronic version of your trusty NIV, produce an attractive printable version of John, maybe add some commentary and contact information, and take it to a printer to get a few thousand copies printed.

Here are the conditions of being able to freely use the NIV text, as found on the translation's Terms of Use web page (emphasis and bracketed info added):

For these uses [personal use], the NIVŽ Text may be quoted in written format, up to and inclusive of 50 verses, without express written permission from IBS [International Bible Society], provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for five percent (5%) or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted. This limited license may be revoked and/or modified at any time by IBS in its sole and absolute discretion.

Did you catch that? If you, as an individual, want to use God's Word (as translated by the IBS), you are very, very restricted in what you can do! It quickly becomes clear that handing out copies of the Gospel of John violates this text in several areas. It is more than 50 verses, it is a whole book of the Bible, and the Bible quotes would be nearly 100% of the work. And even if your proposed production complied with the highly restrictive terms of this agreement, IBS still reserves the right to revoke it at any time!

If you are using the NIV text in something sponsored by a church or a "non-profit educational institution", the terms are a little better:

For these uses, the NIVŽ Text may be quoted in written format, up to and inclusive of 500 verses, without express written permission from IBS, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted.

This gives you a bit more freedom to quote the NIV text, but it still falls far short of giving us permission to do what we want to do. This grant, too, can be revoked on IBS' whim.

Do you not think that IBS would ever make its terms more restrictive? Well, I have an NIV Bible printed in 1991, and its copyright page grants permission to include up to a thousand verses not totalling more than 50% of the work. A few short years later, the terms are quite a bit more restrictive than that.

Any use beyond the permission granted above, including but not limited to reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display, performance, publication, or creation of derivative works of any NIVŽ Text, is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of IBS.

Wow! The International Bible Society has just strictly prohibited you from distributing God's Word!!!!! And you apparently can't create an art display or performance based on it either. The kings who tried for centuries to destroy the Bible would be proud!

Here is another practical reason why this is a huge problem. The Internet gives us the ability to nearly instantaneously get the Bible text to nearly any place on earth. This opens up unprecedented opportunities, yet they are being blocked by the people who own the copyrights on the Bible text!

Ah, but it does allow for getting permission from IBS, right? Yes. But from what I've been able to tell, Zondervan (owner of the NIV distribution rights in the USA) charges at least $10,000 + $10/copy distributed, and they will refuse to grant a license if it looks like what you are doing could compete with their products!

The NIV has good company. The Lockman Foundation, which publishes the NASB and Amplified Bible, also has a copyright/license statement with most of the same problems, except that it seems somewhat more reasonable. The same goes for the publishers of the New King James Version.

But "more reasonable" simply isn't good enough. The above two license statements still do not let us freely distribute our hypothetical copies of the Gospel of John.

God's Word Must Be Free. Period.

Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God's Good News free of charge? [...] When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn't a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so. (2 Corinthians 11:7,9)

Paul's passion was getting this Gospel to everyone, without burdening its recipients. To think he would have wanted an organization to monopolize his letters and restrict their distribution is beyond absurd. They, along with other Scripture, are part of God's gift to the world.

Another example: Can you imagine if Jesus was on earth today, touring as do music artists and some preachers? It might go something like this:

"Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in -- Hey! You with the videocamera! You aren't allowed to film Me due to copyright controls! Security, confiscate his tape!"

Today's society has become far to enamored with intellectual property (I.P.) rights. Owners of copyrighted material want to squeeze every last penny out of their I.P. Although that is not inherently wrong for most things, it is a tragedy to lump God's Word in with other ways to make money. And that seems to be exactly what the larger Bible publishing houses are doing. In fact, it brings to mind a Bible story:

He [Jesus] found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. He made a whip of cords, and threw all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables. To those who sold the doves, he said, "Take these things out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace!" (John 2:14-16)

What these merchants did to God's house, the large Bible publishing houses are doing to His Word! Perhaps it is time for some righteous anger at the situation, just as Jesus had towards the violation of His day.

Jesus and Paul were the antithesis of greed. They ministered through the generous gifts of others and their ministry cost nothing to its recipients. That is how most missionaries operate today, and that is how Bible translation should work. Translators should be supported by the gifts of those whom God directs to support their work. Then, like that of Jesus and Paul, their ministry (the text of the Bible in a language we can easily understand) would be God's gift to humanity through them.

It is important to note that I am not saying that no one should sell Bibles. Much to the contrary. It costs money to print and distribute any book, and there is nothing wrong with charging a price to re-coup that cost. What is wrong is hoarding and monopolizing the Word so that we need to ask "permission" to do what God commanded us to do with it!

Question: What about the KJV?

Good question. The King James Version is in the public domain, so none of the aforementioned problems apply to it. We can print out copies of the KJV version of John and pass them out as much as we want. That is also the case with at least a couple other translations -- the Darby and the American Standard Version (ASV).

The problem with the KJV (along with Darby and ASV) is that they are written in archaic Elizabethan English. Besides "thees" and "thys", they contain some words that are very hard for today's reader to understand, and some other words that could be downright misleading in today's English. (One amusing example: James 5:11 in the KJV tells us that "the Lord is very pitiful". In today's language it would read "The Lord is full of compassion.") The KJV was a good translation in its day, but it is far from the best available today. We spend a huge amount of effort translating the Bible into even the most obscure languages in the world so that everyone can read it in his/her own language (and rightfully so) -- so why should we read it in a version of English that we no longer use?

Enter the World English Bible

Fortunately, there is some good news. The World English Bible (WEB) project is working on a version of the Bible in modern English, and is releasing its work in the Public Domain, just like the KJV!

The project itself has "forked" the ASV of 1901, which is in the public domain. It first went through an automated translation process to translate some archaic words, and is going through various stages of editing to make a good, solid version of the Bible that we can understand and trust. The New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs are already done (but not set in stone). The rest of the Old Testament still needs some work, and some is still on the raw side. Perhaps you can help them, either financially or by actually assisting in the review process of the Old Testament! For more information, please see their informative frequently asked questions page.

I thank God for the WEB. Because of this project, it is now, finally, possible to distribute a fairly good translation in modern English without having to ask anyone's permission. You can print out thousands of copies of John along with a salvation message and your contact info. You can post it on the Internet for free downloading. You can create computer software that will aid in its study. If you feel led, you can even create your own "walk-through-the-Bible" book based on the WEB text. All of these activities would be prohibited by every other modern translation that I know of.

What to do?

What to do about this is, of course, really up to you. I know that I personally won't be buying any more Bibles from Zondervan or any other publisher that is more interested in profits than spreading the Word.

It should be noted that different translations have vastly different copying policies. The NIV is probably the worst (most restrictive) by far. The NASB and Amplified Bibles are in a different tier, seeming to not restrict art based on them. Better still is the NET Bible (New English Translation). It is a new high quality translation (probably better than the NIV) with copious notes. Although it is copyrighted, they grant permission to download the Bible for free and give it away for free. However, a few conditions remain, so I feel that even the NET is not as Free as the Bible needs to be. (When I use the word "Free" with a capital F, I am referring to freedom, not price. Spanish speakers should translate it to "libre", not "gratis.")

It will certainly be a policy on JesusIsLife.net that we will only quote Scripture from the WEB (or another Free/public domain version like the KJV) unless there is a very good reason to do otherwise.

You may wish to consider using the WEB as your primary Bible. The New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs are available in print form. In doing so, you will become more familiar with a Free version of the Bible, which would be advantageous should you later decide to use it in evangelism.