Summary of OET versions

Well now that all of the different versions of the Open English Translation of the Bible (OET) have been announced, it's time for a brief summary of them:

1. The Literal Version
   Closely follows the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, so the sentences are English, but still using the original vocabulary and idiom as much as possible. Extensive notes about variants in the originals.
2. The Readers' Version
   An up-to-date free translation that's easy to read. As few distracting notes as possible. Designed for reading Bible stories easily and in full context.
3. The Study Version
   A less free translation but with many helpful notes and cross-references. This is the one to preach from and to memorise segments from.
4. The Extended Version
   An extended text of the Study Version, with many more notes and details also added in. Designed for lecturers and Bible translators.

These different versions are designed to be used to complement each other, especially in linked media like the Internet where two or more of them could scroll together.

The links above focus on the differences between the different versions of the OET. The following list (from here) focuses on the common features:

• The misleading terminology Old Testament and New Testament will NOT be used
• The terminology Major Prophets and Minor Prophets is also misleading to many readers and will NOT be used
• Traditional chapter and verse numbers will be there, but will be downplayed to discourage their use
• Segments which are not included in the most ancient manuscripts will be removed from the inline text
• Wherever section headings are used (all but the Literal Version), they will be typeset/displayed in such a way so as not to interrupt the flow of the actual Scripture text
• The so-called apocryphal books will be included in the OET (with a section name yet to be determined)
• Eventually, the order that the books will be presented will be changed from the traditional English Protestant order
• Each book will have an individual version number, and each major release will also have an overall version number
• Each version will be available in multiple formats for download, including text, OpenOffice (ODF), and PDF files (both of individual books and of entire versions), USFM files, and OSIS files, and Epub electronic book files
• It will be released under a licence that both enables and encourages others to use and build upon this work. (Most likely this will be a Creative Commons BY-SA or BY licence, but other content licences are also being considered, even Public Domain.)

 I've never seen a Bible translation project that's attempted to do things this way. Apart from wanting to make a good English Bible translation that's both open and free, it's largely an attempt to design an English translation that connects the reader with the original texts; helping them to understand where our Bible come from and some of the decisions that are made for them by the translators.

And yes, it is a very ambitious goal -- totally impossible without God's blessing! So come on volunteers...

OET Extended Version

Ok, this is definitely the last one!!! It comes out of my desire to help provide freely available resources for those wanting to create free Bible translations for their language or area.

The Open English Translation of the Bible (OET) Extended Version (OET-EV), closely follows the text of the Study Version, so this one is really a derived version, not a totally separate text. However it makes a number of changes (mostly additions):

• The divine name (tetragrammaton) will be rendered as YHWH (since the Extended Version is intended for technical people)
• There will extensive notes on variants in the original manuscripts (similar to the Literal Version)
• There will be extra grammatical notes, including the explicit marking of singular/dual/plural and other grammatical features brought through from the original languages
• Ambiguities in interpreting the original texts will be highlighted and multiple renderings offered
• Extra exegetical and translation notes will be added

So you can see that the text of the Study Version becomes augmented with a lot of extra information for translators and serious students. The final detailed specifications and a small sample text should eventually be available here.

So that finishes up the round-up of OET versions: the Literal Version, the Readers' Version, the Study Version and this, the Extended Version. They are intentionally designed to be used in parallel in order to give the interested student a broader perspective of the intricacies of God's written word.

Now, we just have to get recruiting some help to get the website going, and then we'll be working on recruiting translation teams.