About the Bible version we are using

This website mainly uses biblical references from the New English Translation (NET) version.

Over the centuries, the Bible has been published in several translations and versions. Each new issue attempts to be easier to follow than its predecessor and claims to be more accurate to the original Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek.

The English language is constantly evolving and some of the older translations are less easy to follow. The King James Version (KJV) has been the mainstay of Christian churches in the West, particularly in Protestant churches, but this was published in 1611 and many of the Old English phrases used, whilst quaint, can sometimes prevent the reader from grasping the true meaning.

Interestingly, the word 'prevent' in the previous paragraph had two meanings when the KJV was published: The current meaning of 'hinder', and an older Middle English meaning of 'come before' (from 'pre' meaning 'before', and 'venire' meaning 'come'). So in 1 Thess. 4:15 we read:

which can be compared with a modern translation:

Another example can be found in Acts 17:22

which appears to be (but isn't) a different interpretation in a modern translation:

The word 'let' in the KJV can also be misinterpreted to mean 'permit', when the actual intention is the archaic meaning of 'forbid'. Such meaning is obsolete in general English; an exception being the legal phrase 'without let or hindrance'.

And with that, we rest our case.

The English language will continue to change and consequently the Scriptures must be updated into contemporary language for us to understand God's Word. For this reason, Nelson published a revised New King James Version (NKJV) in three stages between 1979 and 1982.

So why has the NET version been selected for the seiyaku.com website, rather than the excellent NKJV version? The answer is that copyright laws prevent us from reproducing sizeable passages from the NKJV.

Thomas Nelson, Inc and Holman Bible Publishers are commercial companies who need to protect their investment with copyright restrictions. They depend largely on their profits to fund development of future editions. The NET Bible®, however, is freely available at www.bible.org/. We are not trying to compete with NET Bible's publishers; on the contrary, we support them. We offer no sophisticated search facilities nor analytical commentaries. If you require such research tools, please visit www.bible.org/.

We also include the Nova Vulgata, the official Roman Catholic version in Latin.¹

Some people may be more used to different names for books (for example; 'Revelations', 'The Revelation of St. John the Divine', or the 'Apocalypse'). Nothing should be implied by our decision to use certain names; we'd rather you focus on the book's content.

Book names are often abbreviated following commonly used conventions.