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About the Bible Versions

Why the Reader offers these six — and why some favorites are linked instead.

Every verse on this site — in the Bible Reader, in search, on a printed chapter, in the Verse of the Day and in the games — comes from Bible text stored on the site itself. That is only possible with translations whose words anyone is free to copy and share. The six here are exactly that: each one is in the public domain, so it can be read, searched, printed and shared here without asking anyone’s permission, and at no cost to you.

The six versions

KJVKing James Version

First printed 1611 · the text read today is the 1769 revision

Translated by scholars appointed under King James I of England. The 1769 Oxford edition settled the spelling and punctuation that nearly every KJV printed since has followed. (It is in the public domain nearly everywhere; in the United Kingdom the Crown still holds rights to it.)

Good for: the wording many of us memorized, and the language behind classic hymns and a great deal of English literature. The Verse Cryptogram uses it for that reason: a familiar verse is one you can recognize once a few letters fall into place.

BSBBerean Standard Bible

Renamed 2022 · public domain since 2023

A modern English translation made directly from the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. It began as the Berean Study Bible, took its current name in 2022, and its translators then released the text into the public domain.

Good for: everyday reading in plain, current English that stays close to the original wording. It is also the only version here with section headings, which the Reader shows above the passages they introduce.

MSBMajority Standard Bible

The same committee as the BSB · public domain

The Berean translators’ second edition. Its Old Testament is the BSB’s, word for word; its New Testament is translated instead from the Byzantine Majority Text — the wording found in the greatest number of surviving Greek manuscripts, most of them copied later. The BSB follows the oldest surviving manuscripts, which are fewer. Oldest or most: that is the whole of the difference between them.

Good for: seeing for yourself where the manuscripts part company. Because the translators and the English are the same as the BSB’s, anything that differs between the two is a difference in the Greek and nothing else. If you have ever wondered why a verse you grew up with has a footnote in a newer Bible, read it here beside the BSB.

WEBWorld English Bible

An update of the American Standard Version of 1901

A volunteer project that brought the American Standard Version into modern English, and was given to the public domain from the start.

Good for: a second modern reading to set beside the BSB. One thing you will notice at once: where most English Bibles print LORD in small capitals for God’s personal name, the WEB writes the name itself, Yahweh.

ASVAmerican Standard Version

1901 · the American edition of the 1885 revision of the KJV

When British scholars revised the King James Version in the 1880s, the American scholars who worked with them disagreed on enough points to publish their own edition in 1901. It became the parent of translations many readers own today: the NASB is a revision of it, and the RSV and ESV descend from it.

Good for: careful study, and for reading beside a modern Bible you already have — the family resemblance to the NASB and ESV is close enough to be useful. It keeps the older thou and thee, and like the WEB it writes God’s personal name rather than printing LORD, spelling it Jehovah.

RV1909Reina-Valera 1909 (Spanish)

Reina’s translation of 1569, revised by Valera in 1602 and again in 1909

The Reina-Valera has been the Spanish-speaking church’s best-known Bible for centuries. The 1909 revision is in the public domain; later revisions are not.

Good for: Spanish speakers, and for reading alongside an English version — in family devotions, a bilingual class, or learning either language.

The same verses, side by side

John 3:16

  • KJVFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
  • BSBFor God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
  • MSBFor God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
  • WEBFor God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
  • ASVFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
  • RV1909Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado á su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna.

Psalm 23:1

  • KJVThe LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  • BSBThe LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  • MSBThe LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  • WEBYahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.
  • ASVJehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  • RV1909JEHOVA es mi pastor; nada me faltará.

Four ways of writing God’s name in one short verse: the LORD, Yahweh, Jehovah and Jehová all stand for the same Hebrew name. The spelling á in “ha dado á su Hijo” is how Spanish was written in 1909; today it is simply a. Notice too that the MSB reads exactly like the BSB here — its Old Testament is the BSB’s, so the two part company only in the New.

Matthew 6:13 — the end of the Lord’s Prayer

  • KJVAnd lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
  • BSBAnd lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
  • MSBAnd lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
  • WEBBring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
  • ASVAnd bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
  • RV1909Y no nos metas en tentación, mas líbranos del mal: porque tuyo es el reino, y el poder, y la gloria, por todos los siglos. Amén.

Here is the difference the MSB exists to show. For thine is the kingdom… — the words most of us say out loud — is in the great majority of Greek manuscripts, and not in the oldest few. So the KJV, the MSB, the WEB and the Reina-Valera carry it, while the BSB and the ASV stop at deliver us from the evil one. Nobody is leaving anything out to make a point: each is printing what the manuscripts it follows actually say. Reading the BSB and the MSB side by side is the plainest way to see where that happens, because everything else about them — the translators, the English, the Old Testament — is the same.

Why not the NIV, ESV, NKJV or NASB?

They are fine translations, and many readers love them. But each one belongs to its publisher. Publishers generously let anyone quote a limited number of verses, but putting the whole text on a website to read, search and print takes a license. So rather than reproduce those translations, this site links to them: the Scripture references in the Study Helps can open on BibleGateway, ESV.org or Blue Letter Bible, where you can read them in almost any version you like.

Offering these six is not a verdict on any other translation. They are simply the faithful translations that can be given to you freely, in full.

Curious how the many English versions differ — word-for-word or thought-for-thought, and who translated which? BibleGateway’s Bible Versions Guide walks through them.

Choosing your version