Monday, May 18, 2009

Download the NET Bible for Free

I realize this is not news, but it's still worth mentioning.

I recently (and finally) took the time to investigate the NET Bible. It is a modern, excellent translation that was designed to be shared free of charge over the internet.

In my opinion, the best part about the NET Bible is the over 60,000 translation notes. Since the text is in electronic format, the notes are very easily accessible.

As an example, below is the NET Bible note on Acts 8:37:

A few later mss (E 36 323 453 945 1739 1891 pc) add, with minor variations, 8:37 "He said to him, ‘If you believe with your whole heart, you may.’ He replied, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” Verse 37 is lacking in {Ì45,74 א A B C 33 614 vg syp,h co}. It is clearly not a part of the original text of Acts. The variant is significant in showing how some in the early church viewed a confession of faith. The present translation follows NA27 in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations."

I found this note very helpful because Acts 8:37 is a verse some translations have (KJV, NKJV), while others do not (ESV, NIV). Additionally, it is a verse that is doctrinally significant because of what is says about baptism.

To download the NET Bible, go here.

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