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Michael, Lori, and Rachel
Aloha Friend!
In March 1994, God called me to work on getting the Holy Bible into modern English in a freely redistributable format, with no copyright restrictions on sharing it, both in electronic and print formats. The result of that conversation in prayer (and a lot of work) is the World English Bible (WEB). This has been a great blessing to many people, who don't have to pay royalties to share God's word. I lost count of how many people have used the World English Bible on web sites, in Bible study software, in devotions, etc. My sister, Sandra, just released The Royal Road: Walking in Step with the Father's Heart using the WEB.
Another devotional we recommend that also uses the WEB is Just Jesus: His Living Words.
Not having to pay me (or anyone) a royalty to print the World English Bible is starting to increase the availability of the Bible for ministry use. Among others, one print run has been completed to supply school children with New Testaments + Psalms and Proverbs in Papua New Guinea. A second print run of the whole Old and New Testaments of the World English Bible British Edition is about to be done. This one will be a whole container load of Bibles for evangelistic use in Papua New Guinea. Pray that the funding and logistics all work out.
Of course, English Bibles are not enough. There are over 7,000 languages spoken on this planet, according to the Ethnologue. That is why we have been working to support Bible translation and publication work in many languages since October 2000. I now use some of the same technology pioneered to publish the World English Bible digitally, and more, to publish Bibles in any language I can get permission to publish.
Right now, there are so many Bibles in so many languages, that I have taken a little time to build some better indexes to help people find them. Check out the new Biblias.me (Spanish intro), LaSainteBible.org (French intro), or the new index of eBooks at eBible.org/epub for some examples.
One of the great advantages of Bibles in electronic formats is their great resistance to persecution and misguided censorship. The ease of copying digital books really excites me. Unlike paper Bibles, you can give away your digital Bible and still have it to read and to copy again and again. Digital Bibles are tiny and easy to smuggle via microSD cards, Internet connections (including encrypted VPNs), etc. With the world-wide proliferation of computers, smart phones, and tablets, there are more ways to get a Bible to someone who wants one than there are ways to try to block it.
Check out this video. I'm pleased to be working with the Digital Bible Society in processing Bibles for use on little chips as well as on their web site.
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