The Holy Bible: Open English Bible — History & Bibliography
Overview
The Open English Bible (OEB) is an ongoing project to create a modern English Bible that can be copied, adapted, republished, remixed, and redistributed without ordinary copyright restrictions. Organized by Russell Allen with contributions from volunteers, the project deliberately combines biblical scholarship with an open-content philosophy. Its goal is not to claim that existing commercial translations are poor; the project’s own FAQ says that many are excellent. Rather, the OEB seeks to provide a scholarly, contemporary translation whose text can be reused freely in churches, software, publications, websites, derivative translations, and other projects.
The OEB is still in development. The current official release is 2025.6, published December 21, 2025. It contains the complete New Testament, Psalms, and selected Old Testament books, with Genesis newly added in that release. Other Old Testament books remain at different development stages, so the OEB should not yet be described as a completed whole-Bible translation.
Origins: An Open Bible for the Internet Age
The project began publicly in March 2010. Its first announcement described two ambitions: a Bible reflecting modern English usage and biblical scholarship, and a license allowing the widest possible reuse without royalties or permission. At first the project offered a preview of Mark. By August 2010 it had produced an initial working New Testament release, and during 2011 it expanded its formats, readership, spelling variants, and plans for the Old Testament.
The OEB’s history resembles open-source software more than the publication cycle of a traditional commercial Bible. Drafts and source files are publicly inspectable; readers can report corrections; releases are tagged; and books move through development stages before they are treated as ready for the main release. The project’s development page marks books as absent, partial, unchecked, checked, or released and explicitly warns readers to treat unfinished material with caution.
The Twentieth Century New Testament Foundation
The New Testament did not begin from a blank page. Its principal English foundation is the Twentieth Century New Testament (TCNT), especially the revised 1904 edition. The TCNT was itself an unusually modern translation for its era, intended for ordinary readers and produced by a collaborative group rather than one dominant translator. Because that text had entered the public domain, it offered the OEB both a usable English foundation and a clean path toward unrestricted reuse.
OEB editors revise the TCNT for contemporary English and modern scholarship. The project describes its desired register as formal but contemporary and roughly comparable in reading level to translations such as the NRSV or Revised English Bible. It retains established Christian vocabulary such as “Christ” and “Messiah” rather than attempting to explain every traditional term through paraphrase. The editorial aim is a mainstream translation rather than a denominationally distinctive one.
New Testament Textual Basis
The normative Greek text for the OEB New Testament is the Westcott and Hort critical text of 1881. Westcott and Hort represents the nineteenth-century critical-text tradition rather than the Textus Receptus or Byzantine Majority Text. The OEB chose it in part because it is public-domain source material compatible with the project’s licensing philosophy.
The project openly acknowledges that modern critical editions contain later scholarship. The OEB nevertheless requires a legally reusable normative source and therefore works from Westcott and Hort while revising the English with awareness of modern scholarship. This textual base also distinguishes the OEB from the World English Bible, whose New Testament has a stronger Byzantine Majority Text orientation.
Old Testament Development
For the Hebrew Bible, the OEB uses the Leningrad Codex as its normative textual foundation, specifically the electronic Westminster Leningrad Codex. Its English starting material draws heavily on public-domain translations by scholars including John Edgar McFadyen, Charles Foster Kent, and James Moffatt. As with the New Testament, these older English sources are revised toward modern usage and checked against the project’s source text.
The Old Testament has advanced book by book rather than through a single finished publication. Psalms entered development early, with a preliminary form announced in 2011 using McFadyen’s work as a base. Subsequent releases added selected books. The December 2025 release added Genesis, marking another substantial step toward the project’s long-term whole-Bible goal.
Translation Philosophy and Transparency
The OEB describes itself as an editing and translation project whose changes are meant to remain transparent. Its GitHub repository contains source files and development history, allowing readers to inspect changes rather than relying only on a finished printed text. The project states that it does not intend to advance a particular theological line and seeks wording defensible within mainstream modern scholarship.
“Open” therefore refers to more than free downloading. It means that the underlying editorial work can be examined and that the finished text can become source material for someone else. A church may print it, a developer may incorporate it into software, and another translator may revise it for a particular community. The OEB asks that substantially altered versions be clearly identified so readers are not confused, but that request is not imposed as a restrictive copyright license.
CC0: “No Rights Reserved”
The OEB originally used a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. On February 7, 2011, the project moved to Creative Commons Zero (CC0). CC0 is designed to waive copyright and related rights to the fullest extent the law permits, making the OEB effectively a public-domain work for reuse purposes. This eliminated even the attribution requirement that had accompanied CC BY.
Consequently, users may quote, publish, print, sell, alter, remix, or build upon OEB text without asking permission or paying royalties. This freedom is the project’s defining contribution to the modern English Bible landscape. The OEB is not merely free to read; it is intentionally free to reuse.
US and Commonwealth English
Since June 2011, the project has offered parallel US and Commonwealth spelling editions. The distinction covers forms such as “color” and “colour” while keeping the underlying translation substantially the same. This decision reflects the OEB’s international ambitions and avoids treating one national spelling system as the only normal form of contemporary English.
Digital Formats and Development Model
The OEB’s source text is maintained in USFM, a standard Scripture-markup format used in Bible publishing. The project’s public repository contains the source files, build tools, development material, and release artifacts. The official site distributes the current release in HTML, plain text, Microsoft Word, PDF, ePub, Kindle, Accordance, and downloadable USFM forms. This makes the project useful not only to readers but also to developers, publishers, and ministries that need structured Bible data.
Timeline
- 2010 — OEB project launches; Mark preview and initial working New Testament releases appear.
- 2011 — OEB adopts CC0, adds US/Commonwealth spelling editions, and begins public work toward Psalms and the Old Testament.
- 2013–2022 — Tagged releases continue, with New Testament revisions, Psalms, additional Old Testament development, and expanded digital formats.
- 2025.5 — Release contains the New Testament, Psalms, and selected Old Testament books.
- 2025.6 — Current release, dated December 21, 2025, adds Genesis.
Strengths and Appropriate Use
The OEB’s principal strength is its combination of modern language, transparent development, and exceptional reuse freedom. It is particularly attractive for digital ministries, open-source Bible software, churches preparing worship material, independent publishers, and communities that want to adapt a translation without negotiating permissions. Its public source history also gives technically minded readers unusual visibility into the editorial process.
Its principal limitation is equally clear: the Old Testament is still incomplete in the official release. Readers should distinguish released books from development drafts and should not present unfinished material as equivalent to the project’s stable release. For ordinary study, the OEB is best used alongside other respected translations while its Old Testament continues to mature.
Selected Bibliography
- Open English Bible — Official Site. Current project description, downloads, licensing statement, and release status. openenglishbible.org.
- Open English Bible — FAQ. Primary explanation of translation philosophy, TCNT foundation, Westcott-Hort New Testament text, Leningrad Codex Old Testament base, and project organization. FAQ.
- “Welcome to the Open English Bible.” March 22, 2010. The project’s original public announcement and statement of purpose. Project blog.
- “The OEB Moves to CC0.” February 7, 2011. Primary record of the change from CC BY to CC0. Project blog.
- “OEB Now in Both US and Commonwealth English.” June 11, 2011. Documents the two spelling editions. Project blog.
- Open English Bible — Development. Current book-status system and links to the project’s working USFM files. Development page.
- Open English Bible GitHub Repository. Public source tree, USFM files, build scripts, change history, and CC0 license. GitHub.
- OEB Release 2025.6. Current release of the New Testament, Psalms, and selected Old Testament books, including Genesis. Current release.